Divine Eve - The Last of the Sunset Faded (demo)

Once in a while I come across a demo recording that simply blows me away. I shouldnt be as suprised when it happens I have heard many truly excellent demos in my time; however, there are great demos and then there are the HOLYCRAPTHISSHITRULES demos. Divine Eve's Last of the Sunset Faded is one such demo. The fact that The band were subsequently signed to Nuclear Blast and this demo re-released on cd (under the title As the Angels Weep) is a good indicator of the quality herein.

My first reaction upon hearing this was how good it sounds, considering this is a demo it sounds huge and professional while retaining that demo rawness. The second thing, whilst being musically primitive the songwriting across these four songs is exceptionally mature especially for a first effort. Mixing crusty, d-beat inflected Scandinavian death metal (despite hailing from Texas) with the slow and dirge-like riffing of Celtic Frost they create a very dynamic listen; however, they weren't exactly breaking new ground. Acts such as Dream Death, Aspyhx and Sempiternal Deathreign had already defined the Death/Doom style, and it is very likely influenced Divine Eve themselves.

As is the case of Asphyx The Rack, Last of the Sunset Faded triumphs simply for being a brilliantly written and executed slab of crushingly heavy death metal. Sadly internal tensions ripped the band apart after one further demo, Xan Hammack went on to form Crimson Relic essentially the spiritual air to DE and released the excellent Purgatorys Reign for Nuclear Blast subsidiary Radiation.

Pictured is my own copy of the original tape which i picked up on ebay for a staggering £6 earlier this year, having misplaced my copy of the cd i jumped on this, if anything it sounds even better. Both this and the following demo are available on the Upon These Ashes Scorn the World compilation and Divine Eve are back once more and releasing new music, good times.