Ancient Ceremonies

Grade: 3.25/5

COMPOS MENTIS "Quadrology of Sorrow"
Danish Compos Mentis has been hanging around since 1996 and offers their debut demo having strong influences from the Swedish death metal scene as well as bits from the happiest parts from Dimmu Borgir. I suppose I'm not too wrong to claim In Flames means a lot to Compos Mentis. "Quadrology of Sorrow" is some sort of a concept demo, which tells a story about "a person who becomes insane after having experienced a huge sorrow". I actually don't give a crap about that, but the music itself is good and it has been a while since I've heard such a good demo. The sound quality is also really good having Jacob Hansen (Illdisposed, Autumn Leaves, Without Grief...) as producer. Sometimes Compos Mentis is too jolly and happy tranquillity for my taste and actually the last song "Till the End of Eternity" is amazingly annoying in its loveliness. The covers of the demo are nice as well, they seem to be professionally printed and even coloured. Anyway "Quadrology of Sorrow" is really good for a demo recording and this band might actually even have some sort of a future. If you're interested you can obtain "Quadrology of Sorrow" for 8 DM, 4 USD or 2,50 £ from Compos Mentis, c/o Andreas Posselt, Skjoldsvaenge 6, 6500 Vojens, Denmark; composmentis@mailme.dk.
Toni Raehalme