I've always loved finding esoteric metal cassette tapes online, with their hand-drawn artwork, their lo-fi sound quality, and the overall aesthetics of the late 80's and 90's. Fortunately, in some way, they're still being produced today. Out of the hundreds of millions of metal bands over in Sweden, Savage Sword brings out their "Demo 2026." Even though this was digitally released, there is a tangible cassette option for purchase. The music is heavy/power metal, so it too stays pretty traditional. Everything about this release reverts back to the good old days, but with better sound quality... Maybe...

Track one, or supposedly A1, sounds like every other power metal song: "Blazing Firesword." Yes! The sound quality is also made to sound vintage! The guitars sound black metal-ish due to it's distortion and overall mixing, and the drums, while simple, sound basic in mixing, with a snappy snare. The vocals are of the clean power metal variety, and they sound like they were sung through an opening another room away from the studio. The guitar solo is as crisp as it could get for this kind of recording. All of these notes sound like criticisms, but I am really digging this. This just radiates the year 1992. There's only three more tracks after this, as this is a cassette recording after all, so my time with this demo is limited.

"Crimson Fields" was released online on both YouTube and Bandcamp as a single, which hurts the feel of the cassette being 100% raw. Well, it'd be hard to make a cassette and not upload any videos and get plays in the year 2026, so I'm just being nitpicky. The track is more power metal, with the token galloping drums and bass. The singing consists of more chants than anything else, so not too harsh on the vocal chords. I think "Crimson Fields" is a bit of a weaker song compared to the first, and the first should've definitely been the single, if one had to be.

The B-side of the cassette leans more into traditional heavy metal than it's powerful counterpart. "Meant For War" is grittier, simpler, and has way more attitude than the previous songs. I thought of some punk vibes during the first minute with the shouted vocal delivery and punchy guitars. This actually could pass as punk with a shorter song structure and deeper lyrics. There's really nothing more to mention here.

"Power By The Blades" wraps up the demo with lengthy guitar work, a fast pace, and a slap in the face. Everything about this track has already been talked about previously, and I don't want to beat a dead horse, so I'll wrap up "Demo 2026" in one word: pleasing.

The aesthetic and feel of Savage Sword's "Demo 2026" is simply delectable. While the music isn't mind-blowing or literally anything that's never been done before, Savage Sword is actively keeping the cassette tradition alive, and I love to see it. If you have a spare seventeen minutes lying around and want to hear some charmingly-produced heavy metal, this is the demo for you.