Demilich – 20th Adversary of Emptiness
Catalog retrospective releases are often seen as a last resort to a music seekers collection, for if you’re anything like me, it’s a lot more fun to hunt down original copies to fulfill those compulsive hoarder obsessions. But let’s face it, the older we get and the more years that come between us and that obscure demo, or 7”, the skyrocketing monetary value in the metal world is enough to kill the mightiest of boners once an item is discovered on Ebay. In this case, releases such as this fantastic Demilich – 20th Adversary of Emptiness 2CD career collection is a welcomed addition to fill all the holes in my Demilich collection, which turned out to be a lot. I own Nespithe and have some of this demo material on my I(death)pod, so there is some material I am hearing and obsessing over for the first time on 20th Adversary of Emptiness.
For the uneducated, Demilich is a Finnish tech death metal band dating back to 1991 who’s material holds up incredibly well in 2014. I remember the early 90’s hearing this band for the first time, with their complex and disjointed though catchy songs, their music was enough to blow me away on its own. But it was those cryptically low grunting pig vocals that sealed the deal due to their morbidly humerus retching. I’ve heard no other band out there replicating this bizarre delivery and it has kept Demilich’s sound superbly preserved. The Finns always possessed an incredibly dark and melodic knack for riff writing and Demilich are to be hailed as a band to fondly remember. Some of their time signatures and awkward transitions simply sound inverted and it piles on the uneasy feelings as you listen to their material. For the 20th Adversary of Emptiness release, Svart Records has harvested everything the band has ever recorded in their 1991 to 2006, on again, off again lifespan. This includes some material never heard before and even alternate artwork. With 4 demoes worth of material, a full-length, and even rehearsal material chronicling unreleased material, it is incredible to hear all of this together and to witness how the band maintained their unique formula even up till the end.
Demilich really isn’t a band that you hear many folks talking about which is too bad, as their material hit at the climax of influential death metal and truly stands as an impressive monument to Finland’s sinister underground. Hopefully with Svart’s unveiling of 20th Adversary of Emptiness, this will change, for I believe this is one of those criminally overlooked bands that could have been considered even more legendary than early Amorphis. Classick stuff. -Marty
Svart Records
Worm Gear 
This is material that every death metal fan should own, IMO. It’s just classic. I’m glad it has all been assembled together like this.