GODKILLER was formed 1994 in Monaco, releasing a classic debut EP of haunted Medieval Black Metal "The Rebirth of the Middle Ages" and 2 full lengths of cold Industrial Black Metal between 1996 and 2000 via Wounded Love Records before going on indefinite hiatus.
The sole work of multi-instrumentalist Duke Satanaël, the astonishingly accomplished tracks collated here as "We Are The Black Knights" are the two initial cassette-only demos that preceded the 1996 release of the first EP, a record referred to as 'life-changing' by DMP owner Phil.
First demo, the ferociously weird and eerie "Ad Majorem Satanae Gloriam" - recorded in 1994 on an 8-track machine – sees relative primitivity turned into an advantage: vicious Sunlight Studio-esque Death Metal meets raw first-wave Black Metal, segueing into borderline-vampiric Gothicism, martial industrial drum rhythms and proto dungeon synth - the whole absolutely burning with passion and hatred.
Recorded in 1995 on the same 8-track machine and self-released in a cassette run of 500 copies, second demo "The Warlord" showed an evolution towards the style that would become GODKILLER's trademark: anguished Black Metal utilising Medieval-inspired soundworlds. Following a brief intro, the two lengthy remaining tracks dial up the otherworldly grandeur, epic melodicism and unhinged vocals to breathtaking levels of desperation.
Professionally mastered for the first time, these two demos are inspirational to, and on par with anything in the current raw BM underground and more than worthy of this inaugural issue on CD and vinyl formats.
