Archives of the Dead part XIII: Abominog - Grotesque Humanity

Archives of the Dead part XIII: ABOMINOG - Grotesque Humanity (With Your Teeth Records - EP 1990)

Line up: Chris Yuastella (Vocals), Keith Lyons (Guitars), Pete Reid (Bass), Juan Figueroa (Drums)

Recorded and mixed at the House Of Horrors Studios, November 12/18, 1990

Life would be too beautiful if everything what was recorded and released back in the early 90’s and was death metal, was also equal to something utterly awesome and cult. Sure, we all know many classic 90’s bands and awesome records, demos, EPs. And there are also many bands and recordings, which we still don’t know, waiting to be discovered and which probably are also fuckin cool. But let’s be honest – the scene in the early / mid 90’s was not perfect and with many leaders there were also many followers; bands, which had nothing interesting to offer, recording a lot of mediocre or shitty stuff. And here is one such material – Abominog’s EP titled “Grotesque Humanity” from 1990. I bet there will be some people, who will say that it is awesome and cult recording, just because it was released in 1990! But don’t get fooled by that. It is even less than mediocre death metal and honestly, I personally can’t find anything in it what would make me like this band. Their “Dark Museum” album was not bad, but still rather average, similar to bands like Judecca, speaking of the quality, but “Grotesque Humanity” is just bad.

“Grotesque Humanity” is basically two songs: the title one and “World War Gore”. Musically it is typical brutal death metal made in USA, and as such it mainly reminds me Baphomet. But really, Abominog is not even half as great as Baphomet! These two songs are somewhere between fairly good and utterly mediocre, sometimes getting close to just bad, having plenty of dull moments and bad vocals (especially those screaming voices are shit and ruin the whole thing even more, but the more common grunt is also weak as fuck)… OK, there are some good riffs as well. The main problem with “Grotesque Humanity” is that the production of this EP is just weak and makes it sound only damn boring and unimpressive! There is no soul, no power and no lethal energy in it; even the vocals sound damn lifeless. Maybe if the sound was better, thicker, more brutal and killer, then the whole EP would make a better impression? Who knows? Sincerely I doubt though if a better production would help Abominog anyway, as all in all this material is just mediocre and typical as hell, totally forgettable… and truly, back in those days there were dozens of better bands, including the almighty Baphomet.

Abominog has also released three other demos, if I remember correctly and one full length album… As I mentioned “Dark Museum” is not fairly good, but also often torn between some killer and shitty moments, but “Grotesque Humanity” with its total mediocrity does not invite me to check the demos. Not terribly bad EP – as there are even worse things around – but still nothing interesting.

Final rate: 45/100