‘Demo II’ marks the return of this, seemingly, one-man Black Metal act from Romania, Vârcolac. Early 2022 saw the release of the band’s debut full-length album, which was digitally released by the band itself but it didn’t take long before Narcoleptica Productions and WitchCult Records picked it up for a CD and cassette tape release respectively.
And to be honest, I don’t think it will take all that long before this 11-minuted demo will also be picked up. The Black Metal that is presented here is roughly a logical continuation of Vârcolac’s previous work. When diving into the nitty gritty of the two tracks there are some minor details in which you can hear a slight progression, mostly when it comes to the basics of good song writing. But the very core and meaning of the music, the Black Metal aesthetics, are still very much intact, offering some sharp edged riffage and an equally sharp and raw production complete this dark and bleak painting. While many of nowadays Raw Black Metal bands are offering lots of harsh distortion and very little riffs to sink your vampiric fangs in, which honestly does work well for quite some of those acts, Vârcolac on the other side is serving you with some really razor sharp and stinging riffs. Riffs that can easily be compared to the best of the current South-American Black Metal cult. This means that, ‘Demo II’ is definitely worth the attention and if this sort of Black Metal is your cup of black tea, then keep an eye on Vârcolac, I am sure it will appear on physical format soon enough.
