Thursday 1 August 2013

Archives of the Dead part VII: Aberration - Massacre on the Earth (demo 1993)



 
Archives of the Dead part VII: Aberration - Massacre on the Earth (demo 1993)
Line up: Piotrek "Steve" Stolarski (bass), Darek "Jojo" Janiak (drums), Tomek "Lisu" Lisiewicz (guitars), Tomasz "Sulo" Sulkowski (guitars), Rafał "Czarny" Nowakowski (vocals)
Recorded at "P.J. & Haus Studio" Łódź, January '93. Enginereed by Robert Hajduk & Aberration.
I am Polish, but I honestly still don’t know all the old bands from our underground and keep discovering some of them even nowadays. And Aberration is one of such bands. I actually knew their name already in the mid 90’s, I remember reading some reviews of their demo in some zines and even in Metal Hammer, but I have never heard their music – until recently, when I found out their debut demo “Massacre on the Earth” from 1993. This tape was actually officially released by Morbid Noizz Productions and this is probably why Aberration was quite recognized here in Poland (they were the most known death metal band from Płock (city in the central Poland), along with Hazael). But the fact that they were released by a professional label and were quite known on the scene doesn’t really have to mean that their music is timeless and has stood the taste of time. I actually think that “Massacre on the Earth” hasn’t.
The history of Aberration goes back to 1992, when in February the band was formed from ashes of Mutilation Chaos and Deformed by Tomek "Lisu" Lisiewicz and Tomasz "Sulo" Sulkowski. They’ve released “Temple of the Absurd” demo the same year (but I have never heard this material) and finally in 1993 the tape “Massacre on the Earth” has been unleashed. Well, I must admit that when I listen to this demo nowadays it sounds just terribly archaic and outdated. First and foremost I think the production is just weak… Of corpse I have heard some worse sounding demos in my life and at least in case of “Massacre on the Earth” you can hear all the instruments… yes, but the production is just completely fucked up in my opinion and I totally don’t like how Aberration sounds on this demo; especially the guitars sound is tiny and not aggressive, they just sound weird, having kind of reverb, which disturbs me and besides I think that this kind of production deprive the music of all the aggression, brutality and the lethal energy, with which normally death metal music should be soaked with.
The quality of the material written for “Massacre on the Earth” is also something I can dispute about… there are obviously some nice moments here like “Aberration of Absurd” (cool song) and “Over the Sea” for instance, but then again if I compare “Massacre on the Earth” to some other Polish demos then I think that Aberration wasn’t even half as good as Hazael, Armagedon, Ghost, Betrayer or Violent Dirge on their demos. There may be some cool moments, but also some, which I think are completely boring and shit – the instrumental song titled “Beyond the Unholy Grace” is the worse example, as this is just a waste of space in my opinion; badly composed and performed, with some moments ripped from Metallica and turned into death metal vein – just listen to this song at 3:00? No, sorry… Other songs may have some nice riffs and good moments, but also some ineffective ones and I sometimes wonder how this material would sound, if the quality of the recording was better? Would it make it more interesting and brutal or would it still be just so damn mediocre, as it is now, just because the songwriting is simply average? I don’t know and will never find out. Aberration is long time inactive, after “Massacre on the Earth” they only did one more demo (“Promo 1994”) and then split up… Being such a mediocre band, there’re no regrets that I haven’t had a chance to hear their music in the early 90’s and that they haven’t achieved anything more. They simply weren’t that good.
Standout tracks: “Massacre on the Earth”, “Over the Sea”
Final rate: 55/100

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