Composer Reacts to Demilich - The Echo (Replacement) (REACTION & ANALYSIS)

[@zinestheticluminescence]

A classic within the Tech-Death scene. My favorite review about this album is a single sentence saying "I can almost smell the vocals".

[@Radean1]

😂

[@emootikoah8156]

lmao i just saw this same review on rym

[@funeralkazoo5944]

It makes me happy to see a reaction video to actual underground bands and not just surface level content. I love Demilich! Cheers!

[@CriticalReactions]

A majority of what I check out is lesser known stuff, either because it's upcoming bands trying to get off the ground or just less popular genres. If you like that kind of stuff then I highly suggest ya stick around the channel. :)

[@liliIiliIilil]

It's unfortunate that these guys didn't get much respect until the internet became common. Much like Cynic, they were just way too ahead of their time. Wild and crazy music.

[@Tempestuous_Might]

much better than Cynic. Cynic's peak was their 91 demo, that was a treasure trove of a demo.

[@kylanmcnichols6525]

​​​​@@Tempestuous_Mightnah peak was Focus, and although both bands are amazing Cynic is 10x better... gtfo. OP is spot on haha Nice nod to Sorrow btw.

[@cdsmetalhead99]

@@Tempestuous_Might We get it, Focus isn't brutal enough for you

[@Tempestuous_Might]

@@cdsmetalhead99 Focus is ok, the vocal experiment falls flat and is annoying, the album itself is ironically 'unfocused' they sound like they didn't really want to be a death metal band at that point but just went with it since they already had the songs. Its half death metal and half sometimes cool sometimes atrocious experiments.

[@EMH-Ascending]

I remember disliking Demilich so heavily I would just put it on for something to laugh at. Now the music laughs at me, as I ended up buying the box set, and plan to get a long sleeve eventually. They’re so complex and distinguished from basically every other band, it’s no wonder they’ve maintained relevance for all these years. Underground masterpiece.

[@louieburnham8090]

Nespithe My friends that were into death metal: whoa thats like an anagram of “The Spine” Me: “The Penis”

[@jonathanhenderson9422]

This was super underground when it was released and became something of a cult classic; the kind of album that only those really into underground metal knew about. It's also the only album Demilich ever released. It ended up being a massive influence on what would become tech-death, but Demilich never got the attention of longer running bands like Suffocation or Cryptopsy. There was nothing like this in '93. There were key precursors in late-80s/early-90s Death, Suffocation, Atheist, and Cynic; but none of them were this twisted and angular with their riffs and structures as most early 90s DM, even the most progressive bands, were still hugely rooted in thrash. This whole album really sounded like it was some malformed beast that came from the pits of hell, especially given the ridiculously low guttural growls (still probably the lowest in the history of DM). I mean, this stuff still sounds wild in '22, almost 30 years later! Try to imagine someone trying to make sense of this in '93! I'm kinda glad I discovered them when I did because they were way ahead of their time. This probably would've sounded like complete chaos if I'd heard it early in my metal journey.

[@calebbean1384]

Atheist was pretty angular and twisted. Way thrashier thoughy

[@cesardante-barragan3394]

I remember buying this after listening to a track in the Repulsive Assault compilation from Repulse Records from Madrid, Spain. It still blows my mind.

[@cerwile1]

The CD booklet for the album specifically states the vocals aren't altered in any way. There's videos of him doing it with just a hand recorder. Also some vocals are altered in earlier demilich releases, where the difference is very clear.

[@johanliljeblad1236]

I’ve listened to them before, so I knew of that guttural growl, but can’t say I remember them being this good. Maybe I encountered them a bit too early in my career into extreme metal.

[@jproffitt2192]

i was literally thinking the same thing

[@blindguardian1979]

same..first time i heard them I didn't get them...mainly because of the growls. But later when i revisited them, i noticed how good it was musically!

[@juhaloukaja5078]

You should check out some live stuff, they are awesome live as well! For sure Abomanitor's growls are somewhat of an acquired taste but once you get them, they actually sound great. I don't know which release the video is from (the original link in the description is not there), but there was a re-release some years ago which was remastered and sounded (IMO) better than the original CD.

[@jonathanhenderson9422]

I'm glad I discovered them after I'd already gotten into tech-death and prog-death; checking out Demilich after already having heard Atheist, Cynic, Death, Suffocation, and then later bands like Gorguts, Necrophagist, Cryptopsy, and Spawn of Possession helped me make sense of what Demilich were doing; though even with all that experience this album is still incredibly wild and original. Definitely give it another listen if you think; I think it's one of the classics of 90s DM and I'd probably put it very near the top of my favorite DM albums (perhaps only definitively behind Obscura and Death's Symbolic and The Sound of Perseverance).

[@panospante5753]

yes they are that good indead. Best death metal band in my opinion along with rottrevore, id say malevolant creation as well but they sound a bit thrashy

[@VFella]

"If you keep listening to the drums...." Indeed. That's what non-metalheads never get. People with an ear used to rock try to understand death and black metal from the guitar-centric point of view of rock. But in death metal it's drums what really make the songs. Drums are the containers within which the guitars can move. The drums put the order into the chaos. In fact, in live gigs the drums cause physical effects on your body. This is specially important in black metal, where the drums make every cell of your body vibrate. It almost feels solid, as if you can touch the music. Extreme metal is just so much more than "normal" rock. It can be felt with the body, listed too with your guts or with your brain. Or with everything in between. There are just so many layers of meaning. BTW, thank you for the analysis. Loved it.

[@kruksog]

Interesting in that I often tell people something almost the opposite. I always tell people to listen to it like you look at a watercolor painting. Let the tones bleed and wash amongst each other. Don't listen to anything individually, let it hit you like a wave. Let it wash over you in its totality. Cheers.

[@Tempestuous_Might]

Death didn't start Death Metal, they were one of a few. One can find elements of Death Metal as far back as 1984 becoming more and more concrete over the rest of the 80's. Beyond a doubt it was established by 1989

[@Tempestuous_Might]

and out of curiosity, what kind of music do you typically compose?

[@SuperSoundtracks]

This album struck a chord with me from the first time I heard it. I deeply appreciate the labyrinthian structure of chaotic, disharmonic musical flurries that is occasionally broken up with a tidier, melodic section to bring you in to more familiar territory, before spitting you right back into the churning maelstrom. It's a treat every time, and I'm glad more people can appreciate it.

[@errrorrr404]

I couldn't have said it better! You take the words out of my mouth!

[@pvhep4036]

Churning the Maelstrom!!! ITDS \m/

[@neck_acrobatics]

Possessed's Seven Churches released in 1985 is widely considered to be the first death metal album. By 1994 death is a well established genre, with many progressive and avant-garde bands. But in 1994 this was the most bizarre, confusing, weirdo death metal that world has ever heard. Unfortunately, it was largely unnoticed until early 2000s when the band decided to share their music for free on their site (which is maintained by a man with a peculiar sense of humor). Since then the band exploded in popularity. P.S. According to the burp man himself, the only effects used on vocals are reverb and delay. P.P.S. I once tried running while listening to Demilich. Don't do that.

[@billybobthekidiswack]

Sure but death (mantas) released a death metal demo tape in 1984. Sure possessed released a demo in 1984 called "death metal" but it sounded very thrashy while death (mantas) demo sounded like Trve death metal

[@liliIiliIilil]

"By 1994 death is a well established genre, with many progressive and avant-garde bands" Eh, bands like Cynic and Atheist existed but they were not popular or well known. When Cynic toured with Cannibal Corpse, people were booing. Paul has talked about that tour. @@billybobthekidiswack Possessed also had a demo in 1984 and it was titled Death Metal, which is where the term came from.

[@billybobthekidiswack]

@IlilIlilI There's alot of ambiguity on who coined the term "death metal". There was also a compilation tape called "death metal" in early 84 that featured hellhammer, helloween, and a few other bands. Kam lee was actually doing some indecipherable growls and screams on deaths demo while possessed sounded like a thrash demo.

[@rohitchaoji]

@@billybobthekidiswack I always find it interesting. Early on, terms like black metal, death metal and even power metal were quite ambiguous. Different things were called that and sounded much different from what we recognize as those genres today. At least during the early and mid 80s. For example, what would you even call Morbid's December Moon or Death Strike's Worship Death or Poison's Sons of Evil. Even the sound was pretty ambigious but at their heart a lot of it was just thrash.

[@Tempestuous_Might]

There's a video on youtube that's just the vocalist with no effects, search up "Antti of Demilich - vocal demonstration" such a unique voice and goes to show that he didn't need much help in the studio.

[@procyonia3654]

One of my all time favorite bands, really cool to see you do a video on this one. Oh and live Anttis vocals sound pretty much the same, and he plays those wild riffs while "singing"

[@biorythmicshifter]

I love this album. Such unique grooves and harmonies. Few bands have mastered such a bizarre sound, Immolation is like a distant cousin to this. Other than that band there are no other bands that sound like them and I’m not talking about imitations…

[@luisalvarez-fj3zh]

Incantation maybe

[@dzivosy]

Brutally sprained my ankle to this song in one of the craziest mosh pits ever @ Metal East: Nove Kolo in Kharkiv in 2019. Good times.

[@pietandersen6120]

Ah Demilich, one of those bands that I never got into but certainly respect, because it feels like they are channeling magicks I simply am not meant to wield and invoking gods I am simply not meant to ponder. The vocals sit in that lovely pocket of space where I genuinely can’t even imagine the human making the sound, the melodies are angular and jagged, the rhythms are jittery and in the middle of an identity crisis and the production is raw and in your face. Where I usually find that black metal and doom metal, which is more my end of the “trve” metal spectrum, invoke megalophobia and cosmophobia, and kind of bring about lovecraftian images when interacting with the sound as a mythos, death metal like this always puts in me the fear of god in a much more old testament fashion, crafting images of hell and holy wars. Wild stuff, definitely not for me. Edit: I realise I’m being a bit cryptic, I think an easier way to put it is that Demilich’s sound is “hot”.

[@juhaloukaja5078]

When writing the riffs, they would write "something that sounded cool", tape it, then play it in reverse and practice playing it backwards. That's probably why you mention the "angular and jagged melodies" and "jittery rhythms" :)

[@SJ-ym4yt]

”Channeling magicks I simply am not meant to wield and invoking gods I am simply not meant to ponder” This is the single best written comment I have ever read on something someone dislikes.

[@Tempestuous_Might]

@@juhaloukaja5078 same with Alf from early At the Gates

[@rohitchaoji]

The most incredible thing I find about them is that they weren't around for a long time until the mid 2010s and started playing live shows. They sound like they haven't missed a step in live performances. At least most of them.

[@jackscully7986]

7:15 I would say he is throat singing, not using vocal fry

[@burnxinxhell]

Having seen them live you are correct, he leans right into the mic as his vocal style isn't very loud. One of the most unique vocalist in death metal and also it should be noted he's playing guitar as well

[@BlasphemousVerses]

Fun fact, the album title 'Nespithe' is an anagram of The Penis. I love Demilich. Their riffs always sound like they're being played backwards.

[@The_JustJoshing]

I thought it was “The Spine”. That’s what Metal Archives says anyways. NE SPI THE Reverse those and you get: THE SPI NE

[@BlasphemousVerses]

Oh also, Antii Boman can actually do gutturals like that. Their demo "The Four Instructive Tales ...of Decomposition" is raw with no real editing to it. He also does it live (albeit now not as good but it has been 30 years).

[@BlasphemousVerses]

@@The_JustJoshing It is The Spine. It's just a running joke that it is The Penis.

[@The_JustJoshing]

@@BlasphemousVerses Oh alright haha. I wasn’t aware of that

[@finaldestination5847]

For me is this record not only one of the best death metal records ever made but also one of the best if not the best tech-death metal album ever !!

[@makjak111]

Kinda Reminds me of cephalic carnage's music from the 90s and early 2000s. I need to check more of this out

[@cesardante-barragan3394]

Cephalic were influenced by Human Remains, pioneers of that stuff. And I'm sure Car Bomb also listened to them.

[@xdrezcorex]

those are interesting gutturals. it sounds like he is in his fry register [not to confused with 'fry scream'] or maybe a form of throat singing.im going be to checking out more from them

[@Necromediancer]

While prog or tech is a valid description, my favorite label for it is "avant garde death metal" for just how experimental it is

[@shryggur]

This sounds so alien it's awe-some. I had the same feeling (even stronger though) at my first listen of Cynic's "Focus" which is also a classic tech-death metal album from 1993. I tried other Florida death metal bands (that's actually a microgenre) but never felt the same effect. It's even more interesting since Cynic are from the Florida scene but Demilich are Finns. I can think of some explanations for it but it's still ever so intriguing. What's really interesting is the shift from sheer rhythmic brutality to very arhythmic, numbing experience. It'd be interesting to follow this evolution from album to album.

[@shryggur]

And it's funny how I hear there some proto-Meshuggah, another alien-sounding band. Not sure there was any direct influence, though

[@Necromediancer]

The Finnish death metal scene definitely stands out from the rest for being a lot wackier in the things they did.

[@trias418]

welcome to hell, and beauty. This is part of my top-5: Morbid Angel - Altars of Madness, At the Gates - Red in the Sky, incantation - onward to golgotha, immolation - here in after, demilich- THIS

[@Juan-rd5jf]

The vibe the songs give off combined with the album art is just god tier💯

[@matt_4249]

I've known about this record for a while. Definitely considered a classic. Spotify has recommended me some of their tracks and, this might be the first time I agree with you on vocals, Bryan, I really don't care for them, haha. I enjoyed the music though, maybe the vocals will grow on me. EDIT: Looking at the record, a lot of the track titles mention bowels and consumption which kind of fits the deep, gutteral, burpy? vocals in that sense. Also, the one instrumental track "Erecshyrinol" is an anagram for "no lyrics here" which is fun.

[@bigz1641]

Whoever recommended Demilich is awesome :D Great reaction as always. Also I seen a video many years ago where the vocalist does it on video, this is the only thing I could find kzbin.info/www/bejne/onjTgGiYZdZ0qc0

[@JuanR20421]

This album is definitely one of my top 10 death metal albums of all time, it’s like an eldritch being in music form , cool reaction 🤘

[@plentigaff]

HELL YEAH. one of my fave death metal bands ( if not my #1)

[@plentigaff]

Some of my fave vocals also

[@nathanstreilein758]

Yeah this is probably my favourite death metal song of all time.

[@8o86]

omg your patrons are the best

[@deludedreality89]

You really need to listen to some Ripping Corpse, especially their unreleased album.

[@Kataxu]

The only vocalist I have ever heard similar to Demilich has been Thergothon, and thats it. Id swear there are none else who sound like this.

[@WaxScum]

Parts of Mortal Decay

[@Mastafly7]

Gutted pulp. Lesch nyan. Catasexual urge motivation. As well.

[@mega_asasin]

The frogdemon vocal makes this band for me

[@Vaecord91]

I love the initial "uhhh" start with a riff then discard lol

[@craigroaring]

Such an interesting and progressive album. It reminds me of Atheist in the way it holds your attention with the anticipation of what's coming up next.

[@asafoetidajones8181]

Atheist, death, cynic, gorguts, demilich, demigod.. my kind of Death Metal

[@8o86]

@@asafoetidajones8181 A MAN OF FUCKING GOOD TASTE

[@thegrimner]

One of those albums whose status as influential is lost without the context. Not necessarily a band I *enjoy" listening to, but I do appreciate some of the bands this album influenced ( especially Chthe'illist, whose main songwriter is also the composer for First Fragment), and I do appreciate that the musical complexity is in service of an actual theme. It's intentional surrealism, and almost lovecraftian in feel. There were bands doing jazzier proggier stuff with death metal back at this point in time, like Death and Cynic and Atheist, and Pestilence, but all of these bands where far more openly jazzy in structure. This sort of keeps the prog elements under the hood and build an aura of unease on top. . It's also one of those bands that could justify you basing your reactions on more than one listen from time to time, this is way to overwheling to take in in a single listen.

[@progperljungman8218]

Very well said overall! I truly enjoyed this first listen but would put it among the last in line if I had to do critical first listen reviews for songs...

[@mortyc1375]

Check out “Where Angels Go, Demons Follow” by Spawn of Possession and “Infecting Them with Falsehood” by Deeds of Flesh

[@progperljungman8218]

WOW... just WOW! Hadn't the faintest about this band. And they were contemporaries with Death!... My cautious entry into death/extreme metal was Opeth (well, for some reason I got into the much more brutal Meshuggah a bit before but that's a different story...) and it took some time to start enjoying rougher stuff that didn't have that progressive leaning and mellow parts/clean vocals to "excuse" the harsher stuff. The band name Death just sounded too much... "death"... So it took a while to discover how progressive and exciting they were. This is just as progressive and totally different/original! What a discovery! And so cohesive yet challenging (meaning: exciting me with surprises) What a week this has become! (After a - imo - pretty weak start of the week 😁)

[@progperljungman8218]

Ps! Just discovered they were Finnish! Ds!

[@johanliljeblad1236]

@@progperljungman8218 What else? 😅

[@progperljungman8218]

@@johanliljeblad1236 Of course - didn't catch the accent before 😉

[@thegrimner]

Finland was a little hotbed of weird around 93, 94. If I remember correctly, this was also the time Sentenced pulled off one incredibly weird album that doesn't really sound like anything else, and sounds even less like anything they ever did.

[@jarunia17]

Bryan looking like a Linkin Park member circa 2000, excellent xD

[@CriticalReactions]

YES! Every time I spike my hair like this I imagine the lead singer of Adema 😅. I've been tempted to get frosted tips to really bring that 2000s vibe back.

[@trias418]

that facial reaction in the first listen is EXACTLY what this band is about. I don't necessarily agree with their politics, but the old school metal site ANUS said of this: "Somehow I think Frank Zappa, young and into extreme metal, would have come up with something like this" and "Demilich place the listener into a staring contest with the self's own concept of infinity." yep yep

[@Juan-rd5jf]

All ive seen from them in terms of politics is supporting ukraine, i dont think theres much to disagree with there

[@Superhiknapada]

@@Juan-rd5jf nazzi band

[@jesusschizus272]

DEMILICH FUCKING ROCKS! Love them! So pitty they did only one album! Antiboman is genius!

[@_bats_]

I've liked Demilich for a while but never really dug too far into their lyrics. These really evoke the alzabo, from Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun series. The alzabo is a predatory (possibly alien) species that absorbs the psyches of creatures after eating them (and consuming their brains in the process). It does this so that it can mimic their vocal patterns in order to lure more of their species, but a by-product of this ability is shown in the books to be that it can potentially become sentient by eating sentient creatures, and after absorbing their more advanced brains, uses their memories and knowledge to specifically target loved ones to be consumed. Eating the brain of the alzabo also allows one to inherit the memories of the creatures it has consumed, taking on elements of their personalities.

[@CriticalReactions]

Interesting parallels there. That book came out a decade before the band so I wonder if any of them had read it before.

[@patrickschafstein5848]

Beautiful review.

[@Gestr3482]

Demilich is the band I'd play for people who don't know anything about metal but who are curious. Seriously. Because for me there was no acquired taste period for Demilich. I loved it from the very moment I heard it, have seen them live multiple times and they sound exactly like this, vocals included. Bought shirts, CD's, LP's...I LOVE Demilich. And I think it's the best choice for 9/10 DM bands to just tour off the one perfect album instead of making 4 albums that don't measure up to it like all the others do. Best band.

[@ivarvanderheijden]

Yeah, one of my all-time favourite deathmetal records. It's so off the beaten path... The sudden tempo changes, weird riffs, bizarre panning, and inhuman guttural vocals, especially for the time, early '90's.

[@blindguardian1979]

I don't think you've reacted to Atheist yet which is a must for early progressive/technical death metal...jazzier than this but excellent. The album Unquestionable Presence is one of the best! If i had to choose a song, An Incarnation's Dream.

[@Morbid.Thrasher]

"Tecno-Grind with original vocals"

[@anthonyperkins5856]

You should see these guys live, masters of the guitar. I have this album, SICK.

[@dafig3858]

pls check perennial quest or without judgement by death

[@MMasterDE]

I'm like, Demilich... woot, you doing one of their songs? I see the song title, and it's short, on an album with so many songs with long names. hahaha Not my top pick from the album, but this album was so ahead of it's time.

[@MMasterDE]

I'd say old school tech death, but there's something more... it has doom elements and maybe some gore or sludge or something, idk. It's a hard first listen for sure!! My favorite track from the album is "Inherited Bowel Levitation - Reduced Without Any Effort". lol

[@errrorrr404]

DEMILICH 🤘🏻🖤

[@wellisonxavier1729]

Demilich é minha banda top um da minha lista. Simplesmente foda!

[@CrazyMetalZombie]

Demilich have ALWAYS ruled. Proof you can be technical and also still be heavy and absolutely disgusting

[@SJ-ym4yt]

I love the music but I really struggle with the vocals. They’re in a pretty weird place in the mix too.

[@asafoetidajones8181]

Demigod and Rippikoulu, similar early Finnish doomy DM. And of course the first four or five amorphis releases

[@thesmogo]

Wonderful song

[@dg3258]

Nice react, have always struggled distinguishing between Death and Black Metal. Did Death metal spawn from Black? Are you a fan of thrash / power metal? Would you consider reacting to all female J-metal band Lovebites? They are heavily influenced by 80s metal. Ty.

[@neck_acrobatics]

Both death and black metal came from thrash metal, but took different pathways - death turned the brutality to 11, while black chose to amplify punk elements present in thrash.

[@dg3258]

@@neck_acrobatics Interesting and ty for the info. Say interesting because I've read Venom is considered Black metal but I hear no punk in their music (maybe just me), and Motorhead definitely incorporated punk elements in their music and they're not Black metal. Oh well, all good. lol.

[@Addede]

Mind blowing musicianship. Too bad they split up after just one album. Sounds like the deformed child of King Crimson and Death

[@ProgPro96]

They're not exactly split up now, I just saw them live earlier this summer

[@HenryRuins]

I can say that i'm still not really liking the vocals but everything else is just amazing and way ahead of it's time proud to be Finnish

[@TheBFN]

👿🔱😈..i lov watching students of music taken out of there comfort zone musically.. The looks on their faces is priceless 😂... And watching them try to say something positive about what they Just heard so they dont offend people viewing their content is hilarious... Just say you hate it and dont be a WIMP...😂

[@CriticalReactions]

I'm pretty sure somewhere in this video I mentioned that it wasn't my cup of tea. But that doesn't mean I hate it. I learned too much about music and my own biases from this to hate it.

[@seenbelow]

Now that prog death alarms have been sound, you need to check out some Atheist and Cynic. Focus and Unquestionable Presence

[@oatmeal710]

the only manipulation done to the vocals was reverb, he really can make those sounds naturally

[@panospante5753]

Vocals are not touched at all, this is how boman sounds when hes growling, only some reverb and a bit of master to make vocals sound equal to rest instruments

[@diegosolares5492]

Regular Death Metal record in ohio 💀

[@Freddespelarspel]

I cant listen to that growl, I cant stand it. Is sad because the instrument is overall good.