PANDAEMONUM – Live

The barbaric Texan black metal horde known as Pandaemonum recently released this rather repulsive and interesting live EP consisting of three semi-long and well-written tunes via Bandcamp, which is to say that we are dealing with a digital release here. While live offerings by black metal outfits usually fail to spark the fire and energy that their studio counterparts possess, there is something about this sinister EP that drew me in almost immediately. Sure, the band is not the tightest unit I have ever come across and "Live" is as raw and unpleasant as a bleeding wound, but it definitely has a sick charm to it that is strangely appealing (or appalling depending on your point of view).

The songs have a certain apocalyptic foreboding to them and evoke a sense of claustrophobia and despair, which is amplified by the unpolished and lo-fi sound of the whole affair. Pandaemonum has a knack for varying each song both in terms of pace and atmosphere, and the actual song arrangements are not bad at all and hint at great things to come. It will be interesting to see if these fuckers can somehow harness their potential and vomit forth something that is truly epic and mind-blowing sometime in the future.

Being a sucker for live albums and releases in general, this one by Pandaemonum was just something that I stumbled on by chance, but it turned out to be a nice surprise and it does have dark vibe to it that is quite attractive. Unless insanely raw black metal gives you diarrhea, head on over to Bandcamp and check "Live" out.

https://pandaemonum.bandcamp.com/releases