I have made it once of my prime directives to find as much cool stuff from 2014 before the year closes out. I know I will still be finding really good black and death demos for the next few years but at least, for now, I am frantically searching for as much as I can find. These searches are made easier when one stumbles across an amazing label which is devoted to some very dark underground heavy metal. Exitium Productions, which is now closed, has been working for the past two years in putting out some of the most frightening black and death metal. The last remaining demos and full lengths sound the funeral bell for a label that just discovered. Adversary seems like a fitting place to start.

It is not everyday when one has a demo that is pulled in wildly different directions. The opening instrumental on Adversary’s self titled demo is a dark yet catchy grove which bounces off of dissonance but still retains its accessible charm. The following song, however, introduces some wildly challenging vocals from a member known as Misery. “Illusionary Benefactor” begins with a wall of blast beats and vocals which sound like an afterthought amid the chaos. While all of this sounds like a criticism, the charm of Adversary drops, finally, mid way through the same song where the vocals finally settle in. It took a bit of adjusting but the entirety of Adversary’s demo is well worth to time spent trying to figure out.

If Adversary seems passable and decent by midway through their demo, the closing track “Divine Abuse of Credence” is enough to send it over into greatness. Here is where the vocals and instrumentation really lock in step and send pulsing chills of death and rot through the air. Misery’s near festering vocals suitability ooze over the music giving shining hope for a full length of the same quality. If Adversary wasn’t enough of a draw for people, then the introduction to a great, now defunct, label should be enough to get you in line. Come rain filth over these fallow fields.