Artist: Archaic Behest
Country: Germany
Label: Iron Bonehead Productions
Formats: Demo Tape
Year: 2024
Although Archaic Behest is a new band, debuting with ‘Lore’ through Iron Bonehead Productions, the musicians behind the band are far from rookies. With an accumulated experience in bands such as Expulsed Angel, Nameless Tomb, Sonne Adam, Envenom and Putrescine we can speak of considerable expertise. Although I remember the latter, Putrescine, mainly for not returning the interview I sent them a few years ago and stopping responding to my emails, the majority of these bands are well-respected, meaning we can expect a good portion of Black/Death Metal from this first demo tape.
Archaic Behest might indeed be a new band, the music on offer feels pretty much like a multiple-vehicle collision of the band member’s other/previous endeavours. ‘Lore’ is a 13-minute exercise in wild and violent Black/Death Metal not too far removed from Angelcorpse. The frantic drums and especially the Palubicki-flavoured obliterating riffs and whammy leads do proudly wear that Angelcorpse signature. In the vocal part, however, it does feel a little less intense. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with it, but it does seem to be the weaker link in the whole thing. The somewhat standard sounding vocals (somewhat in the style of Necrowretch) fall a bit flat amidst the overall musical ferocity. The total bombast and chaos that typifies the music could easily lead to an inextricable tangle of noise, however, it is the experience of the musicians that make this essentially Morbid Angel-inspired mayhem go in all the right directions. To this you may add the surprisingly good production: raw and with enough gritty texture, yet with plenty of room for all the instruments not to drown in a muddy swamp.
However, the vocal part should be nothing more than a minor side note, because this demo, as a whole, more than makes it clear that here we are once again dealing with a first-class addition to the German Extreme Metal scene. While none of these bands are a direct mirror image of Archaic Behest, this is stuff that will certainly appeal to fans of Angelcorpse, old Krisiun, Abomintaor, Conqueror, Order From Chaos, Archgoat and Diocletian.
