Monday 19 August 2013

Archives of the Dead part VIII: Abhor - The Whispers of Forgotten Shadow (demo 1993)



Archives of the Dead part VIII: Abhor - The Whispers of Forgotten Shadow (demo 1993)
Line up: Sergiusz Jakubowski (bass), Dominik Sierpowski (drums), Piotrek (guitars), Maciek (guitars), Robert (vocals)
Recorded at Kino Piast, Skawina, 17-18.V.1993
This morning I decided to exhume demo tape from one of the lesser known Polish death metal bands from the early 90’s called Abhor. To be honest they never belonged to the most prominent and recognized bands here; I think they were (and are nowadays) just as unknown as Beherit is unknown among the catholic music circles. I also have only just discovered Abhor recently, never heard of them before and only the curiosity made me listen to their demo. But when I listen to “The Whispers of Forgotten Shadow” I can see really why Abhor never has achieved anything with their music… it just wasn’t that good! They were just one of many totally mediocre or almost weak death metal bands, which recorded demo with bad production and with music, which simply wasn’t good enough to impress the maniacs. Some bands were I guess just too eager to record their early songs and thus they’ve released shitty, forgettable demos, which only flooded the scene, while it would be better if they waited, composed better songs, got some skills and finally also got some money for a decent production of the demo. None of that happened when Abhor was recording “The Whispers of Forgotten Shadow”. The same mistake was repeated by many bands, even some, which are quite well known nowadays like Affliction Convulsion, whose early demos are shit… but later they managed to progress and finally they did some killer releases. Meanwhile Polish Abhor perished after this one demo for good and nobody remembers them anymore…
Or almost nobody, as surprisingly this demo appeared recently on “Dorosłe dzieci” blog – a website, which is a tribute to the old Polish scene and bands, and which offers many old and often totally unknown demos to download. This is how I got to know Abhor and their demo. But honestly I don’t think I would miss anything if I have never heard it. It is just totally mediocre, if not worse… It is just boring, slow paced death metal; very archaic, very primitive, with uninteresting and lame riffs and even worse vocals. There’s just nothing exciting about this demo and from start to finish it doesn’t manage to convince me with anything good or exceptional. As I said this is quite doomy death metal (with some faster parts here and there like in “Dreaming”), but the band had no energy, no atmosphere in their songs...
The problem is that Abhor sounded like they only just started playing music last week and quickly came up with some very simple riffs and typical, simplistic rhythms and then they just composed some uninteresting and basic songs, which are fine for the beginners, who only started the band and will play one or two concerts for ten people in the barn in their village, but certainly are not good enough and not prepared to record and release a demo. This is just how Abhor sounded on “The Whispers of Forgotten Shadow”. The demo was and still is weak and uninteresting, completely forgettable, so it must surely have been only a miracle, which saved this recording from being forgotten. From the other hand I must also admit that I have heard many even worse demo materials in my life… So, you can treat Abhor and “The Whispers of Forgotten Shadow” as sort of archaeological relict from the past… but surely not as something truly exciting and cult. Abhor was from Skawina, Poland, formed back in 1991 and “The Whispers of Forgotten Shadow” was their only demo.
Final rate: 40/100

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