Music Review: Slægt- 2012 Demo (Rosensort)

I obtained Slægt's demo as a happy accident of sorts in late 2012, but am just now really getting the chance to study and enjoy it. I'd heard the band before and had enjoyed what I'd heard, but initially wrote it off in the sea of bands I was encountering and enjoying around the time this blog really started to pick up for me. When this demo showed up in the mail, I listened to it once, enjoyed it, and forgot about it. Shame on me. About a week ago, I made it a project to review every tape and record I own so that I might be able to really categorize and identify which albums I needed to review soonest. This one immediately stood out. It's been the soundtrack to a few homework sessions in the past week, and I couldn't be more thrilled.

Slægt is a one-man Danish black metal group which tears each song to shreds with an urgency I haven't heard in ages. The vocals are either filtered or heavily distorted in some way, but they still manage to break through whatever barrier is between them and the listeners. The drumming is steady and aggressive. While it maintains a solid pace, I feel like the music is constantly speeding up just because of the intensity of the whole experience. The riffs manage to retain a heavily melodic texture while pummeling the listener at the same time. I'm always impressed when bands retain a strong sense of melody while tearing my eardrums out, and Slægt have demonstrated an extraordinary skill with this sonic set. The demo is relatively short, with just four tracks, but I can flip this tape over multiple times on end and enjoy it from start to finish without issue. In fact, many of my favorite albums are short but memorable. This demo absolutely fits into that category.

While I'm not sure how to obtain this demo anymore, I'd keep an eye on discogs for copies of it. The original demo was limited to 25 and came with green album artwork, but it's selling for pretty hefty prices. The white copies (like the one I've got) were limited to 100, so you might find a better price and opportunity if you're hunting for one of those. Regardless, Slægt is a group that should be on your radar. I expect big things from them in 2013.