Polish Death Metal act TOUGHNESS first caught my attention last year with their single featuring artwork by legendary graphic artist TG Rantanen, responsible for the look of many Finnish Death Metal bands from the ’90s, like DEMIGOD, DEMILICH and ADRAMELECH to name just a few. The material presented on their 2022 demo “Prophecy” indeed prophesizes their later choice of working with the Finnish artist and is now receiving a 2025 reissue through Polish label Godz Ov War Productions. The four songs featured on this CD (the last being a bonus song for this edition) are strongly influenced by the classic ’90s Finnish Death Metal classics. You can hear odd time riffs similar to DEMILICH and ADRAMELECH and the sort of harmonic minor riffing you might hear on SENTENCED’s early material. You could also compare their style to modern bands influenced by the Finnish scene, like TOMB MOLD and MORTIFERUM on their earlier releases. Still, these songs have a demo-like quality to them, especially when considering the songwriting. They don’t especially sound like songs and more like jams trying to hone a couple of Finnish sounding riffs into perfect form. Even though the drumming is quite busy, it gives the overall sensation that there’s not much variation or serving the composition and this feels like the understanding of the progenitors is not yet at that level where they can churn out riffs and rhythms that don’t feel like a caricature of what they want to sound like. The mix is quite good though, maintaining the rawness of what you’d expect from a demo, but making sure you hear everything you need to hear without having to suffer through it. Modern recording habits make demos sound really great these days. The band has released two full-length albums in the three years since this demo and I think this reissue is a great way to celebrate where it all started. www.facebook.com/toughnessofficialpl, www.facebook.com/godzovwarproductions