MasseMord - Another Holocaust Rises

MasseMord - Another Holocaust Rises (Self release - demo 2003)

Man, I can't believe that so much time has passed since the release of "Another Holocaust Rises" in 2003 and from the day, when I got it to review for my old zine called Panzerfaust. I must say that this demo was a great surprise for me and ever since I got it and listened to it for the first time I always enjoyed those sounds and this band. It made a huge impression on me with the great music, but also for another reason, which was the fact that the condition of Polish black metal at that time hasn't really been that good in my opinion (unlike nowadays when it’s better than ever!) and so any interesting releases were received enthusiastically by me. So was also "Another Holocaust Rises". And I must say that also nowadays, so many years later, I can still listen to it with pleasure.

Musically MasseMord was slightly different to what you can hear on the future albums. Of course the music was deeply rooted in the obscure and furious black metal, but "Another Holocaust Rises" hasn't been offering any experimental parts, as some of the future MasseMord albums would. What's more, most of the music on the demo is played in merciless fast and uncompromising tempos, what in the end is like a fist in the face of god, just destroying and desecrating everything what's holy. Together with the relentless speed, the music also brings many mid paced fragments, with some excellent riffs (clearly influenced by some Swedish and Norwegian bands) and great vocal parts from Namtar. What I like about the demo is that basically every song is equally strong and so in the end these are some 40 minutes of great and neckbreaking black metal. Also the sound on it, even though the whole demo has been recorded, mixed and mastered in home studios, is not bad at all, I like the guitars sound, the drum machine also sounds cool – so in the end the atmosphere of the music somehow reminds me Mysticum mixed with say Setherial, if that makes any sense.

So, yeah… I like "Another Holocaust Rises" a lot, I recommend you to listen to such tracks as "Colour of Misanthropy" - this one has a great epic opening part, with some monumental clean vocals and piano, as well as "Another Holocaust Rises", the title track, which from the other hand has really cool, long ending part, which is hard to describe, but is based on calm, kind of melancholic semi-acoustic, fully instrumental part... It's definitely an interesting way to finish a demo, with a more quiet and peaceful fragment in contract with the dominating furious intensity of the rest. Yeah, great demo! Sadly it’s not available anywhere, no one has ever thought about re-releasing it, so getting it may be quite tough, but who said that everything needs to come easily and ready on the plate?

Final rate: 70/100