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Vetus Obscurum hail from Seattle and originally formed way back in 1995, split up the next year and reunited in 2008. Blood Revelations sure sounds as if it had been written back then (well, maybe it was.) Save for a relatively "modern" production, the backbone of this demo is definitely rooted in the second wave BM sound that was predominant at the time. Now, this is something that has been done to death, but I found Blood Revelations still manages to sound relatively fresh, rather than just a rehash of things past. Lots of the expected fast passages, though not insanely fast – just enough to get the aggressive factor going. The slower passages they often break into are very melodic, but in a very dark, gloomy and somewhat melancholic way – not depressing, not menacing, but somewhere in between. The end result is a good, well-balanced mix of aggressiveness and atmosphere that I find quite addictive – I typically just pressed Play again whenever it was over.

Despite this being apparently a demo, the sound is adequate – this is not your lo-fi Black Metal bathroom fest. The guitar sound is great; sharp or soft where needed. The vocals are of course BM rasps and sound excellent, low enough to give them a bit of an "evil" sound and not bury the music, but high enough that you don't have to struggle to hear them.

Bottom line, it's not the most original stuff out there, but it's very well executed and the band has put all the various elements together in a way that many bands can only dream of. Hoping for a full-length soon…