NORILSK - CANADA

NORILSK – JAPETUS
As problematic as this three-song demo CD is there is much merit to be found on it as well. The Canadian threesome pay allegiance to the likes of Thergothon with a crushing bass heavy funeral doom that is music to these ears. The cymbal heavy dissonant metal is shored up with sinister growls, menacing guitars and the distortion necessary to make it everything it needs to be.
As inherently as short to the point and ‘demonstrative’ as a demo should be a band should never include a cover version of another group’s songs on such a release. The second song here is a cover of Voivod’s Negatron – a song from their early wimped out period – which is silly. Never mind how all cover versions are entirely clichéd and useless and boring and unimaginative to begin with. The band hails from Canada, but oddly has chosen to go to Russia to find a cold northern town to stylize itself. Finally, as the alternate version of Potsdam Glo is too derivative of My Dying Bride and that whole ilk to be taken seriously. Sure, at least the band did not include an organ and trumpets, but weak is weak in any disguise. The demo’s (dark star) remains the crushing heaviness of opener Japetus and what it bodes for the group’s forthcoming full-length demo. The band has many corporate websites and one of them is here: www.norilskdoom.bandcamp.com or e-mail them through ashermedia@gmail.com. - Ali “The Metallian”