Straight to the point: Ceremony Of Opposites, Dutch band from Goirle -yeah, that’s pretty much where the world ends-. At first they were named Calligatio. A much better name, obviously. They started in 2003, this is a demo containing six songs and it’s supposed to be melodic death metal. Melodic death metal is nice.

The intro that is song one, is all right, but unnecessary, because the purpose is unclear and nothing really happens in it. Then song one, or actually song two.
Song two, named ‘The King’s March’ starts out with a really good melodic guitar loop with some whispering about swords or something in the background. That then is backed up by the same guitar loop, but now distorted and in chords. Good. Then a new part comes in, which again is pretty nice and seems to lead up to a nice tipping point of the song. However, we are then left discouraged when a couple of palm muted power chords and out of place (and slightly out of tune) vocals form the chorus. After that there’s grunting and the same chords unmuted. They mix the aforementioned parts up and create a song. Well, it’s okay, but it never really seems to actually take off. At the end they screw things up with the out of tune clean vocals again, backed up by clean guitar plucking. Let’s give this song 5 out of 10.
First we palm mute, then we play the chords on ‘Burning For Eternity’. A slow pace again, low grunted vocals again. The grunt isn’t really that convincing, it is adequate, but nothing special, you feel the singer has to stretch to get it out of his throat.
Holy shit, the song just ended. And nothing happened! That’s 4 out of 10.
Up next: ‘Scars of the Past’. Clean vocals, once more slightly out of tune, sung over a boring, uninspired, again slow riff. Nothing stands out, is the phrase that forms in my head. Drums: average, guitars: below average, vocals: below average, song structuring: acceptable, but predictable. It’s supposed to be death metal, but it is only in the grunts that this is proven, the riffs and drums could be hard rock or power metal. ‘Follow me into a destiny’, the singer says.

No, not me, not with that voice and not with those lyrics: very, very weak song. No head, no tail: 3 out of 10.
Man, are we barrelling down. Five, four, three: That’s not hopeful. Luckily, ‘False Believes’ starts with a pretty nice, faster paced riff. A bit like Deftones’ ‘Bored’ backwards or something. Yes indeed, not very death metal. Very melodic though, so that they got right. The grunt that follows doesn’t at all suit the arrangement. It seems they are trying to unite genres that hate each other’s guts.
In this song the guitarplay is better and we are introduced with the singer’s black metalesque scream, which is pretty all right. The structure and pace of the song is also better. Still though, the death metal, slow, low grunt shouldn’t be in this song. Someone with a voice like Chino Moreno should be in this song, then it might have some future. That makes for 6 out of 10.
There is hope for ‘The Fear Withing’, the demo’s title track. It’s the fastest song of the five. The band seems more in their element when playing faster. Only now, we are confronted with the black metalesque screams and the death metal grunts at the same time, and that is like eating a cooked in shit salmon with stale whipped cream on top. This song is simply awful, the riffs make no sense, show no inspiration and no real musical talent. Really not the way to end your album. Vomit filled cake all around. 2.5 out 10.

That makes the estimate a 4.1. Back to the drawing board, or actually: quit, I’m sure you’re good at something else. This may seem harsh, but let’s just say this: if Ceremony Of Opposites ever grows to be a musical icon, I will beat myself to death with a table leg. Or I will shake their hand, tell them I was wrong or that the world has gone nuts. Good for them, may that ever happen.
On a more serious note: there are one or two moments when you can hear some promise, but it will never happen for any of these guys in this band. Maybe in a different band, I can’t say, but it seems unlikely for they all lack the pure talent of musical greatness. Don`t shoot the messenger.