Thanatos - Out of Sanity (Self released demo MC 1989)
I don't know whether you need a lesson of Polish death metal history or not, so I'll start from the beginning. Here is Thanatos. No, it's not the Dutch Thanatos. This one is a Polish band, from Elbląg, formed in 1988. They've debuted with "Deo Optimo Maximo" demo in 1989 and then released "Out of Sanity" demo in 1990, after which the band changed the name for Trauma. Ha, now this one may ring a bell to some of you. Yes, Trauma is nowadays one of the leading death metal commandos, they've released several great albums in the past 20 years and still go strong. "Archetype of Chaos" from 2010 belongs to their best efforts. But why do I write all that? Well, couple of days ago I've found a tape in one of the boxes, which are stuck in my apartment, since I was moving from different countries and then cities. I still have some stuff packed, but I honestly thought that I got rid of all my all cassettes (didn’t have room for them, so I had to sell them all). But all of a sudden I've found out that there are few left and it turned out there was Thanatos' second demo "Out of Sanity" among them! So, I thought it would be cool to remind myself what was this demo like. Well, I don't remember when and where from I got the tape, but I think it's got the original xeroxed cover (old as hell, the paper almost turned yellow). I only remember that I had to put the tape into another cassette, because the old one got smashed by accident hehe. Well, I guess this is hell of a rare item nowadays.
So, let's listen to it. My copy of the demo still sounds OK, at the beginning it is slightly fucked, but after 2 minutes the sound gets better and I can listen to "Out of Sanity" with no problem. And man, I already forgot how this band sounded like in their early days, but they definitely played some crushing, archaic death metal. I guess that at that time such bands could have also easily been described as thrash, as the riffing and vocals are on the edge of those two styles. Besides in the late 80's bands like Possessed, Pestilence, Massacra, Vader or Thanatos (hehe, from Holland) - and these are the bands, to which I could compare "Out of Sanity" - were called thrash metal more often than death metal, so... Anyway, "Out of Sanity" is really cool. You may be surprised, but the production on the demo is very decent, raw and underground, but very aggressive and also clear (although I can't hear bass at all). I like the vocals of Bubi, who screams like a maniac. And the songs are also cool, maybe not the best tunes ever to come out at that period of time from the Polish underground, but they're fine anyway. The material is pretty fast and sharp, with such great tracks as "Fallen into Oblivion" and "Necromaniac". All together there are 15 minutes of archaic death metal, which I've enjoyed much. Of course it doesn't have anything in common with Trauma materials, even with their debut demo "Invisible Reality", but I guess that's not a problem and many fans will fuckin' love those tunes. I can only hope someone will decide to re-release those old Thanatos demos on CD, as they do that with so many bands nowadays, but if they don't then I guess the demo is available to download somewhere in the pits of internet. Get it asap, I recommend it!
Final rate: 70 / 100
So, let's listen to it. My copy of the demo still sounds OK, at the beginning it is slightly fucked, but after 2 minutes the sound gets better and I can listen to "Out of Sanity" with no problem. And man, I already forgot how this band sounded like in their early days, but they definitely played some crushing, archaic death metal. I guess that at that time such bands could have also easily been described as thrash, as the riffing and vocals are on the edge of those two styles. Besides in the late 80's bands like Possessed, Pestilence, Massacra, Vader or Thanatos (hehe, from Holland) - and these are the bands, to which I could compare "Out of Sanity" - were called thrash metal more often than death metal, so... Anyway, "Out of Sanity" is really cool. You may be surprised, but the production on the demo is very decent, raw and underground, but very aggressive and also clear (although I can't hear bass at all). I like the vocals of Bubi, who screams like a maniac. And the songs are also cool, maybe not the best tunes ever to come out at that period of time from the Polish underground, but they're fine anyway. The material is pretty fast and sharp, with such great tracks as "Fallen into Oblivion" and "Necromaniac". All together there are 15 minutes of archaic death metal, which I've enjoyed much. Of course it doesn't have anything in common with Trauma materials, even with their debut demo "Invisible Reality", but I guess that's not a problem and many fans will fuckin' love those tunes. I can only hope someone will decide to re-release those old Thanatos demos on CD, as they do that with so many bands nowadays, but if they don't then I guess the demo is available to download somewhere in the pits of internet. Get it asap, I recommend it!
Final rate: 70 / 100
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And here's an old interview with Thanatos, although I don't know what zine is this from... and another one below from Fucker zine #3, 1992  |
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