Totally Bland and Boring - 50%
orionmetalhead, February 29th, 2012
When mediocre is truly mediocre you can just feel the indifferent monotony rolling out of your speakers like the passing of a Honda accord in a wal-mart parking lot. While we all scour the depths of the past and present for that ever so elusive glorious forgotten relic, or lost demo or whatever it is that pressures us to continue our endless search, more often than not we are met with acceptable attempts more often than not. Aberration's 1994 Promo is not one of those. It also isn't a 1968 Pontiac GTO on the open highway. This five track demo is the epitome of a demo that flew under the radar for good reason - sheer blandness.
It's got a mediocre production, with a thumpy bass, rehearsal room tone drums, stock guitars and a vocalist that is there because the band needed to fill the void. I don't know what it is about tracks like "Something Wrong," or "Barbarian Summoning" that just strike me with the impact of a newly purchase pillow, but there is barely enough energy in this demo to warrant the reels spinning in the tape enclosure. It took more effort for a machine to manufacture the tape this demo was printed on then Aberration put into recording the demo. I can imagine the band in the studio, half asleep, possibly slowing down the tempo to the songs so that they wouldn't have to work as hard to play the parts. A song like "Sweet Suffering," aside from requiring a more interesting and less wimpy song title, would gain excitement ten-fold from a slight tempo adjustment of only a few beats per minute.
To the nitty gritty: the songs and such. The tape is in the style of generic US Death metal... the kind every town had in 1994 including the Polish hamlet this crew truly put on the map with their blistering product. The Introductory track trembles along... modestly... trying to be witty with tremelo riffs mixed in with standard eighth note chugging but instead, the song sounds like an embellished series of toss-away riffs. While nothing is particularly offensive, there is little to care about either. I'm not sure who exactly is singing on this demo... there is NO information on the thing. Whoever it is, they lay out a couple of decent Barney Greenway wails at points but majority of grunts - more like grumbles - are not worth the price of the tape. The guitar playing and bass playing is... nothing special. The drums are nothing special, lacking any real charm. The drummer tends to just follow the syncopation in the riffs, adding little rhythmic depth to the songs. At times the toms are buzzy and way too hot.
The lack of proper credits and information includes the lack of a cool demo cover with black and white sketched artwork of zombie penguins eating the goo-spewing-pustule-covered neighborhood children. I don't quite understand why there is a total LACK of effort in this regard. Surely they could have had someone attempt the album cover... anything would be better than the cover of that Mindland disc... I'm afraid to go by the listed lineup on websites because, with a lack of information on the demo itself... who knows where the information on the album came from on these sites. Overall, this is a total pass for anyone really. Unless you really have to own every death metal demo from the Polish town of Plock this is sure-fire demo no one really needs to hear. This review was way more effort than the thing deserves. Hopefully it saves some nomadic Metalhead time tracking this down in the end.
Aberration
Country of origin:
Poland
Location:
Płock, Masovia
Status:
Changed name
Formed in:
1992
Genre:
Death Metal
Themes:
Gore, Violence, Blasphemy
Last label:
Morbid Noizz Productions
Years active:
1992-?, ?-? (as Hope Industry)
Formed in Płock in February 1992 from the ashes of Mutilation Chaos and Deformed by guitarists Lisu and Sulo. Drummer Jojo and also former Deformed bassist Steve later joined them. The band played its first show in May 5th in Łęczyca. Later in June at the Dom Technika in their home city, they recorded a demo entitled Temples Of Absurd but due to the substandard sound quality of the recording, it was not official released. In November, Vengeance vocalist Czarny was incorporated – he had also played with Janiak in the band Deathrider previously.
In January 1993, the band headed into the studio “P.J. & Haus Studio” in Łódź – recording material for the debut demo Massacre On Earth, embracing a brutal death metal sound. Contract obligations with Morbid Noizz Productions delayed its release 6 months. At the time, they applied to play the Jarocin festival without success.
In February 1994, guitarist Sulo presented his resignation to join Hazael, and was replaced by Hubert Dobaczewski. In June, the band signed with Loud Out Records, which released the debut cassette on CD. Shortly afterwards, Czarny was given his walking papers, subsequently joining the punk act Strajk. Jarosław Szpejna took vocal duties. With a new formation, Aberration entered the Golden Rock Studio in Warsaw in October, recording 4 previously-written songs and 5 new titles which didn’t see the light of day due to Morbid Noizz's collapse.
Complete Discography:
Name Type Year Reviews
Temples of the Absurd Demo 1992
Massacre on the Earth Demo 1993 1 (55%)
Promo '94 Demo 1994 1 (50%)
Massacre on the Earth Compilation 2017
Last Known Lineup:
Piotrek "Steve" Stolarski Bass (1992-?)
See also: ex-Deformed
Darek "Jojo" Janiak Drums (1992-?)
Tomek "Lisu" Lisiewicz Guitars (1992-?)
Hubert Dobaczewski Guitars (1993-?)
See also: Lao Che, Spięty, ex-Hope I, ex-Jazzombie, ex-Koli
Jarosław Szpejna Vocals (1994-?)
Past Members:
Tomasz "Sulo" Sulkowski Guitars (1992-1993)
See also: ex-Hazael
Rafał "Czarny" Nowakowski Vocals (1992-1994)
See also: ex-Stonehenge, ex-Vengeance, ex-Tormentor, ex-Deathrider, ex-Strajk
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