Pre-Electric Wizard:1989-1994, 2006

This is a collection of demos that are actually from three different bands and were recorded between 1989 and 1994. All three featured Justine Oborn and each band was a step in his music career on the way to forming doom/stoner giants Electric Wizard. The three sets of demos are of various styles and quality. So I am going to break them down by band and then by song to give you an idea of what we have here.
The first four tracks are by Eternal and were recorded in 1993 for a demo.
1-Magickal Child-This one has a very 70's early metal/doom sound to it. Heavy and thick, but more hook oriented than Electric Wizard's early album would later be like.
2-Electric Funeral-Sabbath cover that does enough to be a little different, but stays fairly true to the original.
3-Lucifer's Children-Oh, did the Sabbath cover end? Doesn't sound like it as this is very early Sabbath sounding and they do a good job of keeping it interesting.
4-Chrono-naut(Phase 1-4)-This song is over 16 minutes long, but feels even longer due to the amount of pave changes. There are lots of styles, sounds and effects tossed into this one. Probably the most offbeat track by eternal and maybe the most interesting.
The next three tracks are by Thy Grief eternal and were recorded around 1991.
5-Swathed in black-Very slow and heavy and a little hard to take. Not bad just not a lot of direction.
6-On blackened wings-Even slower than the previous track and with death metal growling vocals. Sounds like someone took a 45 inch single of the Cookie Monster and played it on 33 1/3 speed on their turntable.
7-Outro-Short little piece that's not real creative, but mildly interesting for what it is.
This band was called Lord of putrefication (they must have been young) and was recorded in 1989.
8-Descent-Moderately heavy sludge that gets up to almost a mid-tempo pace. Rough, but it moves along well enough.
9-Wings over a black funeral-Has more of a speed/early death metal feel to it. Starts out well enough, but it's fairly repetitive.
10-At the cemetery gates-This is a fairly booming, but basic doom song. Definitely has a strong a metal sound yet they have problems keeping it terribly interesting for the whole time.
11-Dark Prayers-Like several of the songs by this band there is little deviation in the guitar tone. It gives their sound a very one dimensional feel at times.

Overall it's decent and interesting at times, but not really essential. Even though I am a big fan of Electric Wizard I just felt this album was a mild snack to appease me until their next album comes out. I kind of wish the track order was done in chronological order rather reverse chronological order. These bands progressed as they went along yet this album has you listening to it from most competent to least competent. The Eternal tracks were my favorite and despite the fact that it was just three years before Electric Wizard's debut the material was still different. Eternal were far more Sabbath sounding than Electric Wizard have ever been. Still I have listened to this album several times so far.