Cleansed by the Evil Hand

This is the second demo for Nokturnal Forest – a one-man band from Syria, where I believe you still get in big dog trouble for making this kind of music. Since the dude is probably taking a big risk recording this, I wish I could say it is kickass in some way, but really it is just bland. The recording is extraordinarily thin and without any low end at all. The guitars are a waspish buzz and the other instruments are pretty much inaudible except for the vague clicking of the drum machine. There is a certain underground charm to this that is just undeniable, but the songwriting does not rise above generic, and a bit of atmosphere cannot raise this above the crowd of similar bands.