Ivory Castle
1995 (no label)
Custer, Washington, USA
James Allin – Wrote and performed all music
Steve Polluck – Wrote and performed all music
Side 1:
- Inside Your Lonely Place
- Land of the Warriors
- The Restless Sea
- Eternal Paradise
Side 2:
- Ascending Beyond
- Whispers
- From Divine
This was a bit of a surprise. The cover and name really doesn’t say much about this demo, but the thank you notes mention Paramaecium, Mortification, Seventh Angel, and others in capital letters. Turns out those three bands are a good comparison: doomy death metal with a hint of thrash here and there. Well, except for “The Restless Sea,” which is a keyboard instrumental dedicated to James Allin’s “Viking forefathers.” This is a two person project, but I am not sure who did what. Ross Assink of industrial band Arbitrage was onboard to mix and engineer the project (which probably also explains the drum machine sounding drums). This recording is lo-fi and has some limitations, but still serves as a good demo that serves up the promise of a decent to good studio album if they were ever signed. Maybe they were and changed names? I can’t find much else about this demo online. Most songs (except for the instrumentals) are 5-6 minutes long, with “From Divine” stretching out to over 12 minutes long.
Update: James Allin went on to form a one-man band called Visionaire that put out two albums (Mystical Dominion in 1998 and Within the Arcanum Hall in 2000). Then he formed a band called Century Sleeper with Ian Arkley – they released an album for Bombworks records (Awaken in 2006). Also in 2006 he changed the name of Visionaire to Ikarian. As Ikarian, he has released two albums so far (Phantom Minds in 2007 and A Shrine of Fire in 2014). Thanks Matthew Hunt for the updated info!
Christian Tape Underground 