Review: The story of Last Fear is a classic one. In 1996 three friends decide to form a band so they start writing and rehearsing songs and soon after that they realise that all three of them playing guitar is not the most practical way of playing live. So one guy has to make the move to bass and a drummer and vocalist are sought (and found). After trying out several drummers the bass player turns to drums and the vocalist plays bass from now on. Are you still following me?

All these changes have resulted in their second demo entitled “Non Compos Mentis” which is a huge step forward from their debut. The style on the first one was more thrash oriented, this time they’ve incorporated some U.S. brutal death metal. “Non Compos Mentis” is a nice but not spectacular demo.

The artwork and packaging is very professional, the production is certainly not bad (considering this is a demo) and the musical abilities of this quartet are all above par.

The demo has just one mayor flaw, the individual tracks seem to leave your mind the second the song stops. Just *ploff* and it is gone, never to be remembered again. Don’t get me wrong, it’s no punishment to listen to Last Fear and I enjoyed the experience but the replay value is very low. Don’t let this withhold you from purchasing a copy though. The trash/death metal of Last Fear is no shame to any CD-collection and they play a lot of gigs so the next CD can only become better. For now “Non Compos Mentis” is a good introduction to Last Fear and a chance for them to gain some recognition.