Artist: Gaalvan
Country: Germany
Label: Crimson Reign Records
Formats: Demo Tape
Year: 2026
Gaalvan is a rather new one-man Black Metal project from Germany, solely helmed by Dark Tormentor (also in Asmodeum). As is more often the case with one-man bands, Gaalvan too didn’t need much time to get the first recordings out in the world. The debut demo tape, ‘Melancholische Verwüstung’, was released on the last day of 2025 and was followed-up by a rehearsal tape, simply called ‘Rehearsal I’ in early March of this year. ‘Geschworener Hass’ is the second demo tape, which was released only a couple of days after the aforementioned rehearsal cassette.
While the music might feel a little unsteady over the course of all three releases, it is clear that Dark Tormentor (D.T.) is finding his range and musical destiny with this particular project. As a whole it fits perfectly in the German Black Metal tradition of the late 90s to mid-00s. It is slightly simplistic with lots of repetitive riffs and an overall hallucinating character, quite fitting to the cold atmosphere and the hateful snarly vocals. The programmed drums might be something that is rather love-it or hate-it. And admittedly, it works a bit better in some tracks than in others. If you listen to ‘Geerbter Tod (Todeserbe)’, for example, it’s hard to deny that the drums are just a touch too prominent in the faster sections, which detracts slightly from the overall effect. But in the two opening tracks I think it even adds to the cold ambiance that the music radiates, so perhaps it is just a matter of fine tuning the mix.
D.T. is also not averse to using some keyboards, strumming second guitar and a bit of clean singing, giving the whole thing a rather dreamy character – the last track even, that serves as some sort of outro, is quite old school Dungeon Synth. That doesn’t only give the music a sense of diversity, but even a bit of a pagan feel. Which, in turn, adds much to the overall old school atmosphere.
If you’d blend up some Black Metal from the turn of the millennium like old Odal, Odium (UK), Andras, Vilkates, Dark Domination, Vokodlok as well as some Burzum and Azaxul, chances are that you’re getting something that sounds like Gaalvan. ‘Geschworener Hass’ won’t go down in history as the best demo of 2026, but it’s a charming demo that does justice to the format. It’s a good demonstration of D.T.’s current capabilities, whilst he’s clearly still experimenting with the direction he wants to take his musical project in. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
