review by: ~Vargscarr~

This is a disappointment. Tsjuder's debut album, Kill for Satan, was captivating and original - full of excellent riffs and showcasing some of the best drumming I've heard in long while, yet maintaining the credibility that many bands who play this style of Black Metal (namely the less Necro sounding, more instrumentally technical variety) so often lack.

The band had said that their next release would be written with fewer elements from Death Metal, and would exude more of a Thrash influence. Unfortunately, this translates to a loss of the occasional palm muted riff that was thrown into Kill for Satan and which was responsible for much of the stand-out greatness of the tracks therein; and a more dogmatic desire to keep to the same pace throughout. This has had the knock on effect of removing many of the more technical aspects of the songwriting - there are far fewer changes in tempo and rhythm in these new tracks, and this makes the new album a much more standard listen than its predecessor; and it lessens the extremity of the music because the ear becomes accustomed to this pace after only a short while. Speed is so much more effective when juxtaposed against some slower riffs, as the band exemplified on songs like the last album's title track.

When I listen to Demonic Possession I hear standard fast Black Metal of the Marduk/Dark Funeral school. When I listen to Kill for Satan I hear Tsjuder. This doesn't mean the album has no value - it's far from bad when one feels like listening to a generic style of music rather than a specific band performing that style; and as far as my taste is concerned it slays anything Dark Funeral ever recorded as fast as lightening rape. It also has a few really good riffs. But it just doesn't have the character of the band's former incarnation, or better bands playing in this style; such as Graven (who perform an excellent blend of the fuzzy, raw, gritty music of the better mid-paced, Darkthrone-worshipping BM bands with the speed and extremity of old Gorgoroth and their ilk).

It's worth noting that Tsjuder's lineup has changed very slightly since the recording of the last record, but since Nag and Draugliun are the songwriters the loss of their second guitar player shouldn't cause such a drastic stylistic change. Perhaps the missing factor is Anti-Christian, the band's former drummer who made Kill for Satan an instant classic for me. However, he does play on the last two tracks of this release ("I-10" and "Primeval Fear"), presumable recorded before he contracted the tendonitis which kept him from continued work with the band; but even these tracks don't feel like old Tsjuder, nor do they seem to have Anti-Christian's distinctive drumming style. Who knows, perhaps 'play' doesn't necessarily mean 'drums'. New drummer Jontho, formerly of Ragnarok, is undoubtedly talented, but lacks that spark and flair that gave such emphasis to the songs on Kill for Satan.

To sum up, if you're a fan of the generic style of Speed Black Metal bands then you could do a lot worse than give Demonic Possession a listen, but I believe fans of the band will have expected better. These songs would be far improved by hearing the band live, but on CD we've heard it all before.