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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