"The Seventh Blasphemy" Demo 1 - 1990:  Invocation (Intro), Seventh Blasphemy, Penetrator Hammer, Ghost Of Death.

"Demonomancy" Demo 2 - 1990:  Temple (Intro), Metal Of Death, The Oath Of The Black Blood, Grave Desecration, Witchcraft, Goat Worship, Demonomancy, Tireheb, Solomon's Gate, The Gate Of Nanna, Nuclear Girl.

"Dawn Of Satan's Millenium" 7" EP - 1991:  Intro., Black Mass Prayer, Beast Of Damnation, Hail Sathanas, Dawn Of Satan's Millennium.

Live in Finland - October 20th, 1990:  War Command, Hail Sathanas, Beast Of Damnation, Witchcraft. 

With the emphasis in the 90's on the Norwegian black metal scene, it's easy to forget where exactly this style of music originated.  The biggest influence was of course early bands like Venom and Bathory, which inspired certain South American bands like Sarcophago in Brazil which in turn inspired the Finnish bands Beherit and Impaled Nazerene.  Their demos predate the Norwegians by a couple of years but unfortunately never received the credit due.  The most likely reason is because Darkthrone had a deal with the major metal independent label Peaceville, giving them greater visibility. 

Beherit, on the other hand, relied upon an unreliable label in the late 80's Turbo based in Germany.  The band members didn't help either by spending the advance on alcohol so the label were forced to use these demos for Beherit's debut.  The Oath Of Black Blood, released in 1991, was relegated to cult status to those who were lucky enough to find it.  That first release utilized the first seven tracks from the "Demonomancy" demo (intro - "Demonomancy") and the entire "Dawn Of Satan's Millenium" EP.  As cheap as the production was the music contained on the disc was the most primitive, brutal, cold and evil metal in the underground.  Holocausto's lyrics were delivered in whispers, gurgles, and in sounds that sound like a wolf "baying at the moon".  The whole ethic of black metal is to sound like the oldest sounds predating Judeo-Christianity, the Scandanavian Gods and even the ancient gods of Babylon and Egypt. 

Unholy Blessings is a release on Demon Seed Records in honor of the early Beherit before their more polished productions like Drawning Down The Moon.  It contains the first, very rare demo in its entirety.  Many never got a chance to hear this and it's very interesting.  Much more raw than the second demo, these songs were never worked on again.  "Ghost Of Death" is the strongest track.  The "Demononancy" demo again is presented complete and shows some advancement on the first.  The sound is a bit more clear (not that is saying too much though), and the songs are dominated by the fast blast beats with some hints of experiementation like in "Witchcraft".  Most of this material has been issued before both officially and unofficially with the more recent release as The Ghosts Of Death (Fatal Records) on cdr.

The center of interest for this release are the live tracks found at the end.  I don't know if this tape has circulated before.  Recorded somewhere in Finland, this is a very good audience recording, very loud and clear.  Since black metal owes as much to the studio as it does to Satan it's always interesting to hear these bands perform their music in a live enviroment.  It sounds like this was taped in front of about ten people in a small club (probably their mothers with cameras).  But the band sound very good live making the studio tracks sound much more raw and powerful.