
Demo 2002
(self-financed)
11:31min
This two tracker was passed on to me by a good friend of mine, and I decided to review it right on the spot, due to the extreme quality of the material presented here. Older readers may remember the French band DARK WHITE who played Doom Metal at the beginning of the 90s. Myself, I only remember a feature about them in a Metal Forces side-magazine (be it X-treem Noize or Thrash’n’Burn, I don’t know for sure). DARK WHITE disappeared without a trace around 1994, so imagine my surprise when I learned that RISING DUST featured two ex-DARK WHITE members. And what pleased me the most is that they had remained faithful to their Doom Metal roots, as their 2002 demo brings a shining confirmation of that. As I said above, only two tracks are featured here, but there is more talent showed in them than in 60 minutes long albums that infest the record bins of today. This three piece (David – guitars and vocals, Steff – bass and Malek – drums) deliver magnificent Doom played with passion, well complimented by a great sound quality, considering they recorded this on eight tracks. RISING DUST don’t hesitate to add a little complexity to their compositions, as in ‘Son Of The Witch’, a track that could please a large audience (even the most extreme) thanks to the guitar sound which combines traditional Doom overtones with regular Heavy Metal and Death Metal ones. David’s voice is certainly (to me at last) one of the highlights of this demo, in fact he sounds quite like the mighty Victor Griffin on the PLACE OF SKULLS debut masterpiece. And when I think about it, ‘Ride With The Dragon’, the second and sadly final track of this demo, could have been featured on that said Griffin’s album, that tells a lot about its high class and maturity I guess. Personally, I don’t see RISING DUST remaining in obscurity for much too long, I am pretty confident somebody with a brain will offer them a record deal; and be sure this one will not have to regret it, because a full length by RISING DUST can only be an instant classic album. Contact the band at info@risingdust.com in order to get their demo (another one is on its way, from what I understood), and note that if even some sections of their homepage are still under construction, the page itself is worth a little visit: www.risingdust.com. Definitively one of the best traditional Doom Metal band around these days, trust me on that!
Edouard Vergriete