After ‘Screams from the Forest’, the Swedish trio quickly released a follow-up that clearly showed the direction they wanted for Withered Beauty. It combines the intensity of Death Metal with the melody and aggression of Black Metal, something best described as mid-90s Hypocrisy, the heavier Gothenburg Melodic Death Metal, and Swedish Black Metal.
The demo opens with the song that later launched them through Nuclear Blast: ‘Immortality is Mine’. The version on this demo is a stripped-back version of the one found on compilations like ‘Death is Just the Beginning IV’ and ’10 Years Nuclear Blast’. On the later re-recorded versions, which were delayed for a year due to Tobias Björklund’s military service, you can hear a choir after 1:27, while the demo only has clean vocals. Based on the re-recorded version, the three Swedes signed a contract with Nuclear Blast.
This re-recorded version didn’t end up on the self-titled debut album, but ‘Failure’, ‘Broken’, and ‘Through Silent Skies’ did make the cut.
It is a demo with a sound that was definitely common in Sweden back then, but it can certainly be called strong.
