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nowadays it sounds just terribly archaic and outdated.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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