The infamous Kūka’ilimoku with a short demo, featuring his iconic raw black metal style that has become all but well known over the years. This demo almost feels like a fun throwaway, a quick and easy release that doesn’t change too far from the norm and just sorta bangs out those always catchy riffs.
Jumping straight into the raw black metal Kūka’ilimoku as usual, doesn’t play around and keeps it straight to the point. Raw, lofi, and incredibly simplistic, Kūka’ilimoku doesn’t stray to far from the formula and at this point, with how much of an influence he, and other bands who pioneered this sorta fusion of raw punk and black metal, there’s now an over saturation with this sorta sound and approach that I think now I feel like there are new comers who have truly made this sorta style of black metal grow into its own beast. If you’re a fan of this band, and this sound, you’ll like this. There’s nothing wrong or bad about this, its just over done and boring. I did enjoy listening to this as my mind drifted off and started to wander around, it provided great white noise. There are some cool moments production wise with this demo, around half way through the second track, the song is overcome with static but it clears out as the screech of the guitar and the worbly effects added to the already harsh vocals create a weird harmony and fade into one another. A memorable moment I thought. Another would be on the fourth track, around half way through, the song begins to break down and a lone and somber guitar breaks through the manic blast beat that is ever present on this release to create a brief moment of respite from the constant assault.
I honestly wasn’t expecting too much from this demo. While, I am a fan of Kūka’ilimoku and his past releases, I do find my self only falling back to those popular release from before. They were different and somewhat ground breaking at the time, helping pave forward a new sound of black metal that took the underground scene by storm for a short period of time only to find its self another trend to latch onto. This demo just sorta blends in with the rest of that punkish sound that at this point is played out. If you’re a fan, you won’t be disappointed with this, but if you’re looking for something new and fresh? This wouldn’t be my first pick.