Artist: Vorgalen
Country: Germany
Label: Self-Released
Formats: Digital Demo
Year: 2026
‘Winds Of The Downed Mire’ is the debut demo of a new German Black Metal band called Vorgalen. And that’s about it when it comes to the information that’s available about this band, so they seem to be purely relying on the music to do the talking.
We get to hear three tracks, which together last exactly 15 minutes and delve into the deepest depths of Raw Black Metal’s intricate realms. The raw sound is the first thing you notice, as that is the defining characteristic of Vorgalen’s music. Those who are mourning Watain’s departure from the scene or who are still jerking off to the new Worm album would be better off looking elsewhere and leaving this one alone.
This debut demo is not only sounding raw, it’s downright crude and harsh. In fact, it reminds of some those almost unlistenable recordings from the uprising of the Raw/Lo-Fi Black Metal scene from about ten years ago. Consequently, it takes a good few spins for ‘Winds Of The Downed Mire’ to unfold all its secrets. But once it does and you’ve been able to dig yourself through the layers of noise and feedback, there’s quite an interesting piece of music that will appeal to fans of bands like Drekavac or the harshest Orgy Of Carrion or Entsetzlich recordings.
Good music is, of course, timeless, but I do think that if this had been released ten years earlier, it would have fallen on much more fertile ground. For me, however, it has been an excellent excuse to dig out some of those demos and records again and give them a spin. Great demo!
