In 1994, Arkona released their first demo, An Eternal Curse of the Pagan Godz. No more but definitely no less, this first recording was truly a sign of the times: recording that was rough and raw yet clear, hysteric vocals, tempos that spanned the blastbeaten and a more stately gait, and a tasteful layer of funereal organ. Still, Arkona's debut demo emitted a uniquely Slavic aspect, which helped push Polish black metal in its own direction more removed from their Scandinavian contemporaries. And that scene would further take on a life of its own by the time Arkona released their debut album in 1996, Imperium, but that's a whole different (and dark) story all its own... As it stands, their An Eternal Curse of the Pagan Godz demo hasn't lost any of its potency nor mysticism in the past three decades.
