Archives of the Dead part XI: Arioch –
Disciples of Darkness (demo 1993)
Line up: Mike Gay (bass), Michael Seabrook
(vocals, guitars), M. Hirzel (session drums)
Recorded at Laud Productions Lansing, Michigan,
May 1993. Mixed & engineered by Tim Lau & Arioch.
Another completely unknown band, which I would
like to write about, is Arioch. They were from Jackson, Michigan, USA, and this
duo – featuring Mick Gay (hmm… yeah, I know!) on bass and Michael Seabrook on
guitars / vocals – did only one demo, “Disciples of Darkness” in 1993… My
knowledge about Arioch is limited to what I can find on Metal Archives, so it
is very, very small (would be awesome if someone out there knew something more
about the band and shared his knowledge with me!), but Arioch never has been
much known and “Disciples of Darkness” was their only demo, so I doubt that
many of you have ever heard of them also. Luckily someone recently has rescued it
from being totally forgotten and provided a download link – this is how I found
out about the existence of Arioch and got to know their music. Cool, because I
can add yet another name to the list of forgotten death metal jewels.
OK, if I can be honest then I must admit that “Disciples
of Darkness” was nothing really outstanding and generally it was very mediocre 90’s
death metal demo. Arioch didn’t have anything unique and truly killer in their
sound; didn’t have that spark and you know… they were just one of many death
metal bands back those days. Even when speaking of the less known US death
metal bands – such as Morgue, Banished, Gutted, Arius or Canadian Purulence –
Arioch wasn’t as good and memorable as them. But somehow though “Disciples of
Darkness” has its charm and even despite being unoriginal and mediocre, I still
enjoy this demo. You know, I can always find something special in such old
demos… Besides, don’t get me wrong - this stuff is not utterly bad, but it’s
just decent, but unoriginal death metal with nice dark aura and evil feeling
(oh, those intros!). Some of these riffs are really cool, but maybe some songs
are slightly too long and this is why they sometimes become monotonous? Or maybe
that’s just the fault of the production? Generally I miss here some truly
powerful and energetic playing, not necessarily fast blast beats or whatever
(the whole music is mainly mid paced, speaking of the tempos), but just this
crushing, violent feeling of death metal, which should be there and which here
on “Disciples of Darkness” is somehow absent. So, if this demo had a little bit
more powerful production, would it make a stronger impact? Probably yes,
because as I mentioned some of these riffs are really good and so are the
vocals and the songs in general. Anyway, Arioch probably never recorded
anything after “Disciples of Darkness” and just perished. Now this demo is the
only sign of their existence… It’s always cool to check out and listen to some
unknown bands and their old demos… the same is here. It may not be anything
spectacular, but it is OK and I can sincerely listen to “Disciples of Darkness”
once in a while.
Final rate: 66/100
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