Compilation of the band's early demos remastered.
Comes with a 16-page booklet containing photos and lyrics, including two originally
handwritten lyrics by the old Vornat vocalist Insane Apollyon/Ahriman (r.i.p).
This compilation clearly demonstrates the notorious "musical progress" of the band. Although Vornat no longer exists, it is interesting to track this process. The first five songs are their debut demo, "The Flame of Satan" (1994). The influence of the Norwegian scene is very noticeable here. For example, the manner of the vocals is completely copied from Count Grishnackh, and it doesn't stop there: riffs often resemble Burzum, and a bunch of riffs in the third song "Self-Mayhem" sounds almost as if copied from "Feeble Screams from Forests Unknown". The fourth song "The Flame of Satan" has a couple of riffs that are completely in the vein of Darkthrone. And so on.
The songs themselves are heterogeneous: the first "Korppi" is almost melodic black metal with a very simple structure (compared to the rest of the demo). Right, "The Flame of Satan" is raw black metal first of all, but the first track includes pretty heartfelt riffs. The subsequent songs are more severe: riffs favor rage over melody, some punk rhythms are used in a blunt black metal manner, sometimes you can make out death metal influences ("Azagthoth"), and the structure of these compositions is more complicated. Something distinctive and original can be heard only in the fourth and fifth songs, "The Flame of Satan" and "The Eighteenth Key". But this peculiarity is still nebulous, not fully formed.The next tracks (from 6th to 9th) were taken from the "Gjotnaym" demo (1996). This material was recorded much better than the previous one, although the opening song "Prelude to Hate" for some reason stands out in quality for the worse: there is practically no distortion in the guitar sound, the very same metallic clang of the strings rules. But there is no more such an outrage later. This is mostly traditional fast black metal again, but it is already clear that Vornat was trying to do something original at this work: slashing riffs and melodic bridges do not make you search in your mind for the Norwegian classics, Vornat confidently go their own way here.Their music is brutal but at the same time captivating: they create an atmosphere of despair of the lonely wanderer who was lost in a night snowstorm. Yes, much attention is paid to epicism this time: the eighth song "Sword of a Thousand Funerals" begins with the symphonic keyboards, and ends both experimentally and epic. The vocals, however, are still completely in the vein of Burzum, the vocalist (not Ahriman, as on the previous demo) even tries to outdo Grishnackh, when it comes to hysteria in a voice.The last four songs are Promo 2002. The past six years have changed Vornat greatly: now it is mainly mid-tempo black metal, on the edge of symphonic, in which the keyboards are given even more attention, and it's not all that simple: often the keyboards part is seasoned with some kind of dissonance (well, not enough to create avant-garde black metal). Perhaps the music has become softer: a guitar fingerpicking is used much more often, heavy metal passages also appeared. Vornat seemed to have decided to follow in the footsteps of Dimmu Borgir (before they were signed by Nuclear Blast, of course). Only the vocalist continues to copy Grishnackh basically, however, in some episodes he is trying to sing in a clear voice ("Massacre of Life and Death").Despite all attempts to be original, their efforts don't deliver the great results. The riffs were left without their former penetration, they are sluggish and uninteresting, as for the guitar solos, although they are unusual and even strange sometimes ("Serpent Revival"), they leave the impression that they are intended for other kind of music. As a result, this material seems long-winded and even boring.To summarize: the second demo, although it was created within the framework of the genre, turned out very peculiar, it is the best work of Vornat undoubtedly. And on the third demo, they went somewhere wrong. Well, sometimes it's better to be original within the genre.
Sample:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3r-g0uWTyI&t=370s
