Graupel

Graupel - Als der Nebel...
Sombre Records, 2002
Genre: Black Metal

1. Intro
2. Graupel
3. Seelenkampf
4. Zwergennacht
5. Ringgeister
6. Kriegerherz



Unfortunately I missed out on Graupel's first demo version on CD, but I was lucky enough to track down the tape re-release.  This ended up transferring over pretty well for a tape release.  I'm sure the booklet was minimized down quite a bit from the original CD demo.

"Als der Nebel..." is a fairly harsh and vicious demo.  Some of that harshness is due to the production.  The one complaint I probably really have is that the distortion on the guitars is way too fuzzy.  I think this is to the point where it does take away from the songs a little bit.  While I will love Graupel's later releases, I don't really love their demo.  I'm not sure they've really hit their stride in the composition department yet.  The songs aren't outright terrible, but I feel they are uninteresting to me.  It is just very standard Black Metal played in a fairly late 90's vein.  Sometimes the guitar arrangement will have a flair of interest, but then it swiftly disappears.  One song has really stand out riffs though and that is "Ringgeister".  There's a riff in there that just really hooks the listener in, but a lot of it is very typical Black Metal.

The production isn't too bad.  You can basically hear everything that's going on, but it really could be better overall.  The drums can get sort of lost in the mix and I think the guitars are a little too loud in the mix.  This is probably what contributes a lot to their fuzzy tone.

I was curious to hear where Graupel started out before they transformed into the excellent band they are today.  This demo probably won't really blow anyone away, but it's worth checking out if you are a big Graupel fan.