... NIGHTMARE CVLT -demo-

Out from Orange County in California, here's NIGHTMARE CVLT... Nothing to do with Horror Doom or Black Metal stuff,  no, this 4 piece plays HC/Sludge and their lyrics deal with society, death, personal struggle, etc... there's definitely just the music that can still be scary and that's the most essential !

Claiming influences in Disembodied/Martyr AD, Converge, Sunn O))) and Harms Way, this debut demo from N.C. includes 4 songs for about 15 short minutes (including a short introduction ), so as you've now already guessed, what we've got here is downtempo HC :  filthy, harsh and  raw...

"Mourning Ritual" and "Anguish" are super gnarly, catchy, heavily brutal too; the reference to Martyr AD is certainly right but I would say that the METAL consonances are rather limited, there's just a little hint of Thrash in the first of those both songs. I think that N.C. are closer on the edge of a more simplistic and nasty stuff  which gives an obvious raw HC/Punk edge to the band's sound.
While the overall could be certainly thicker and gain in crushingness, this doesn't mean at all that the songs don't go anywhere, no, the demonic rage and ugly screamed vocals really spread the disease all over your face and that's pretty enjoyable !

"As the Fun Fades" is a bit different, almost crusty the first part is the fastest material from the demo, but they quickly break it down to a more atmospheric mood, without sounding forced and too different from the rest. This one has a slight Post-HC edge which let suggest a possible opening towards something a bit more refined and personal in the future; pretty interesting, it would certainly help keeping the interest intact during the entirety of a next full-length effort ...
If this remains consistently  choppy and catchy in the meantime, this would be then a sufficiently good reason to follow closely NIGHTMARE CVLT in the near future !