Evil Genius

Here is a nice compilation of Abruptum’s early material (before they started writing one hour-long songs). For those of you not familiar with them, Abruptum is an overly noisy, often extremely low-paced and extremely violent take on the black metal genre.

If you happen to take a look at when the first two demos on this compilation were released (1990), you begin to think if they were the first band producing such a style. If there is such as black/doom that sounds even remotely like this, it’s hard to believe anyone was doing it before Abruptum.

The fact that Abruptum are trying something different makes it easier to enjoy than if you were to listen to a band which holds little to no artistic ingenuity of its own at all. That alone is respectable, but what they are able to accomplish with their unique sound makes this all the more worthwhile. No one song is amazing; they all are in fact good within the context of the album. Most of the songs sound similar. What rescues Evil Genius from that is the well-conveyed hellish soundscapes that permeate the entire 37 minutes of the compilation. There is no letting up and no breaks. It is the hellish Abruptum, one and only, from beginning to end (although I’ll add that the compilation is stronger at the beginning, making Abruptum’s first demo the most enjoyable, followed by their second demo The Satanist Tunes, and the finally their 1991 EP Evil). What I really found interesting was that the first three songs start with a drum beat, followed by the pounding bass and guitar and the cavernous quails of the vocalists IT and ALL.

If hell exists, it sounds like this.

I’ll close by warning that you really have to be into hearing something like this when you play it, and it’s hard to see it constantly spinning for you even if you happen to be among the more underground-dedicated extreme metal fans. You wouldn’t want to be in a, “I want some melodic black metal” or “I want some raw black metal” type of mood. A, “I want to listen to some fucked up shit that sounds excessively evil,” type of mood is all that will suffice, if you happen to occasionally find yourself craving that.

Abruptum were a particularly odd Swedish black/death metal band known for their unorthodox approach and almost free-form style. They began in the late 80s/early 90s with two musicians named IT (all instruments) and All (vocals), also known for playing together in the epic black metal group Opthalamia and the incomprehensibly weird and humorous Vondur. "Evil Genius" compiles their demos and first EP, a period in which they played a primitive, plodding, horrific style of black/death metal. While on later albums they would degenerate into an almost completely improvisational cacophony, at this stage they had some semblance of song structure. Despite being frequently mocked for their goofy over the top themes and imagery, Abruptum managed to make some of the most violent, ugly, eerie and strange stuff conceivable.

The production is as good as can be expected with demo stage underground metal, but still has enough clarity to easily decipher each instrument and allows their low end, chunky, bassy sound to creep and crawl along at optimum levels of filth. The riffs are slow to mid paced and frequently sound more like bludgeoning death/doom than black metal. The guitar sound is right down in the low end of the spectrum, churning out horrendous and disgustingly pounding riffs. The bass has a real clunky reverberating tone and fills out the rhythm to disastrously heavy proportions. The drums perhaps add the most to the agonizingly violent sound, bashing on the toms and bass drum and eerily creeping in behind ominous rhythms. The vocals alternate between low grunts, high pitched screams and weird moanings and groanings intended to convey the sounds of torture (some have claimed that singer All was actually tortured during some of their recordings to produce genuine screams). At times the vocals are a little too over the top, most especially the seemingly homoerotic moaning in the beginning of the ninth track. They also make use of synths, mostly with an organ effect playing off-key notes and shooting into cacophonous spasms in some of the more heavy and weird parts. The musicianship all around is amateur, and the mistakes, poor timing and abrupt changes (perhaps the namesake of the band?) create a generally unhinged spastic sound. On the whole the album is a low rumbling and spastically shifting cacophony of oddities, and possesses an original, off the wall and zany sound I really dig.

Abruptum's "Evil Genius" compilation constitutes their most accessible and coherent efforts and is ideal for a new listener. Regardless, they're still an extremely bizarre and abrasive group, and the criticisms and attacks against them are understandable considering their aesthetic, style and sound are generally difficult to stomach. Personally I can't get enough of the primitive filth found on this album, and I even enjoy their three follow-ups which are even less inviting and listener friendly. While most people will either laugh or cringe at these guys, there are some who dig the most uncompromisingly harsh stuff around regardless of the goofs who make it. I most especially recommend this to fans of gritty demo stage death metal (or death/doom) rather than fans of early black metal, on account of it fits in a lot better with the former than the latter. Abruptum remain a weird little gem in my eyes and I'll continue to feast my ears on this unearthly masterpiece.

The next time I will come across a Black Metal release (or any kind of release) with so long titles (especially when they are written in Latin), I swear I will find the band and make its members eat the fucking album! I don't know how much time I have been sitting here trying to understand what the back of the CD says. Not only they titles are in Latin and they are long, but the letters are small and I have to stick the album in my face to see what is written on it. Bands and labels, show some mercy on the poor editors!

I left the review for a while, relaxed with an ice-cold beer for a while and now I am back to continue. For all of you who don't know shit about ABRUPTUM, it is a Swedish Black Metal band, which was formed back in 1989 by IT and All. In 1990, they found their first bass player, but he got kicked out of the band later the same year, after the release of the band's first demo. After the release of one more demo and one EP, All got kicked out of the band, too, because of his drinking problem. IT recruited Evil, who is no other than the well-known Morgan Steinmeyer Hakansson, MARDUK's singer.

After some threats to him and his family and some events that occurred in the Satanic Black Circle - where he was one of the leaders - IT quit the band and left the scene completely. Evil continued the band on his own until 2005, when he put an end to ABRUPTUM As you can see there is a pretty interesting story behind this band, something that has made ABRUPTUM being considered as a cult Black Metal band.

It has been some time since I last heard news from the ABRUPTUM camp (regarding a re-release, best of compilation etc). I was surprised when I saw the remastered version of the band's "Evil Genius" compilation reaching the Metal Temple headquarters. It was originally released back in 1995 and it contains the band's first two demos ("Abruptum" and "The Satanic Tunes"), which were both released in 1990, as well as the 7" EP "Evil" (1991).

"Evil Genius" now comes in a remastered version with a brand new booklet, a newly written letter/statement by IT (where he talks about the importance of a musician's "journey", the album and his beliefs) and all these in a digi version, thanks to Black Lodge. For all those who own or have just listened to the band's demos, "Evil Genius" is a must have collector's item and a new version of the old tracks. For the recent fans or people who haven't listened to anything by this band, this release is a must have due to its historical, musical and as I mentioned above, collective importance. What makes this album different from the band's later ones is that the length of its tracks is standard and only one track is longer than five minutes. Their later albums feature tracks whose duration is 25 and even 61 minutes!

Regarding the music now, you should know that ABRUPTUM is a brutal Black/Death Metal band that never compromised with the words "technical" and "sell-out". The band is delivering a noisy Brutal assault that will leave you staring at the speakers. You really won't believe these sounds came from the speaker. This music must have really been composed in the depths of hell! The atmospheric parts, the relentless outbreaks, the mid tempo riffing, everything will take you back to a time when Black Metal was not what big names and international labels produce today. Back when the bands were not a bunch of pussies with corpse paint that didn't even know what their lyrics were talking about. If you haven't listened to any ABRUPTUM stuff, you just have to witness their uncompromising blasphemous attack to realize their gloriousness!

This band could never be put under the easy listening tag and that is the main reason why ABRUPTUM have only true and loyal fans. This release is a great chance for the younger blacksters to realize the stupidity and fake image of many Black Metal bands this scene has nowadays. Since we are talking about an authentic Black Metal release, do not expect bonus stuff like videos and bullshit. I even feel unable to rate such a band. Warning, despite my magnificent words and the long review, do not expect the top release for 2007. As I previously said this is only for fans of this band and people who want to witness the gloriousness of authentic Black Metal. Think carefully before purchasing this album. It is up to you.

Originally written for Metal-Temple.Com
Yiannis D.

Encompassing a rather unspoken wave in the early and dark days of black metal, the spoken piece presents a disquieting memorandum before ears long accustomed to clear production and pompous synthesizers.

These were the foundations. And these are the reminders to motives which black metal tended to forget in its later years. And whom remembrance highlights the uncomfortable strangeness beneath the almost familiar. It retells a tale on the verge of oblivion within the genre’s long legacy and reminds us why we’re all here to listen and let drawn toward our darker selves.

The album is a compilation of two early Abruptum self releases: “Hextum Galæm Zeloq!!!” and “The Satanist Tunes” plus the following “Evil” 7”EP and one new track on the limited Southern Lord release. All parts of the record being fairly rare I was surprised as delighted when I found them all in this new form, and further, in its limited edition. The spoken Southern Lord release also includes a recent preface and background to the music written by IT, which is quite a treat to anyone who desires to explore what lies behind the music, and this one is given through a retrospective view of the musician himself.

Here I guess I should thank the guys on original releaser Hellspawn Records for choosing to place the songs by the order in which they were initially recorded on the demos. For it makes the fact that the release is actually a compilation almost unrecognizable. Each of its parts seems as following chapters of the same tale: each of whom delves deeper unto unknown, horrendous dimensions.

The slow drumbeats which characterize the openings on the first part hint a faint remnant of sanity, as all tracks on this part are rather structured – if this be an appropriate term to describe the music of Abruptum - but these soon to fade away in the spirals of dissonant synths, as the gaping abyss beyond the conscious. When drums reappear, yet metamorphosed unto frantic blasts, they come to serve as rhythm to a raving ride through madness. Vocals are whispers arising to hideous shrieks; in times accompanied by strange crackling noises - that of its source I dared not guess.

All through the album there is a noticeable use of a “hall” echo effect which creates a constant foundation of previous echoes whereupon vocals and additional instruments randomly fall and overlap - yet to become a background to subsequent sounds. Random pauses in vocals give a while for the jumble of sounds to swirl and propagate as surfacing ripples in the turbulent black pool of psyche. Numerous combinations of sound thus achieved become as additional musical instruments, creating a recursive state wherein echoes of previously sung vocals generate a background for the rest (track 10). Also worth a note is the strange manically mewing voice on track 7 and the manner in which keyboards distinctly attempt to imitate the drumbeats (!) on track 8.

There is no definite structure or flow to the songs, nor recurring pattern. And yet these bare structures, devoid of anything familiar as music are surprisingly mesmerizing. In a way I may even say that the album is a challenge and a different approach to all known attempts at stimulating mind through sound, and a test of the ever thinning border between sheer noise and music. Assuming this piece being of high originality to its time, I cannot help wondering whether any modern “Ambient/Noise” project managed to thus maintain a mood and an expression within utter chaos.

While mentioning Abruptum, the concept of torture within their music is quite inevitable. Yet the way in which the physical act is perceived hints of something deeper, mental and much more terrible. The sensation bourn within the presented soulscapes exceeds the hatefulness of the act itself and expands beyond the finite set of notions aroused by the concept of torture or any common term around Euronymous’s “essence of pure black evil”. Track 6 features a mosaic of sounds which randomly flash and disappear as fleeting thoughts and memories in one’s mind. A seemingly playful tinkling piano passage around 1:48, followed by something that sounds like someone whistling out of key (somewhere between 2:00 and 3:00) is swallowed unto the abyss of echo – which shatters the brief moment of innocence. Then come a slow tolling of bells, and a few deformed organ chords surface above the overall racket - as a ghost of altered belief and a contra to religious exaltation. Be it of Christian or Satanic nature. For the music unwillingly descends beyond its ritualistic nature, and expresses the unconscious fears which originally gave birth to all religion and ritual. It may not be sheer exaggeration to say that this piece have managed to achieve the same expressional genius found in the stories of modern horror author H.P. Lovecraft.

As also mentioned in the booklet, this is a chronicle to a very personal journey, yet in whom anyone reading this may find himself and whatever prompted him embark unto his own quest beyond daylight. Being a microcosm of an era, wherein certain parts of its conceptions be captured, the listener may even find the elements that he himself have overlooked in other common classics of the genre. In this sense it is a blessed release since it portrays the seemingly past in a fresh light.

If you are not already familiar with the work of these wacky Swedes, this compilation is an ideal introduction: it includes two demos and an EP, plus my copy of the Southern Lord edition has an extra track which is the title track of the mini-CD "De Profundis Mors Vas Cousumet". All the tracks here are fairly short with nothing longer than 6 minutes which will be a relief to those who previously baulked at buying any of Abruptum's albums because these were hour-long affairs containing either just one or two tracks that sprawled everywhere and featured terrible and tortured noises from Abruptum vocalist IT.

The screaming is still there but the music is (slightly) less chaotic and in the early tracks (tracks 1 - 4) has a bit of structure and rhythm and some of these could pass as songs. Tracks 1 to 4 have strong militaristic and urgent rhythms, a definite bestial atmosphere and deep vocals which don't often rise above growled lyrics and tracks 3 and 4 even feature some spitfire lead guitar work. Come track 5 "Corpus In As Trahere Abincere" and we are coming towards classic Abruptum territory: the music begins to get sloppy, guitar riffs become more drawn-out and kind of listless and IT's voice is either teetering on the edge of hysteria or shrieking and slobbering in terror. The next track after this is even more mired in Abruptum improv: Evil is slashing away at his guitar as if he couldn't give a fuck about playing it properly and the drumming begins to slow down to the level where it's falling apart.

As the CD continues, IT seems to go more nutty: there's more screaming, retching and grunting and much less of what passes for coherent speech. The guitars and special effects take on a malevolent life of their own and only the sloppy drumming holds everything together - but only just. This actually indicates a high level of intense concentration on the part of the musicians because however out-of-control everything seems to get, it never really collapses totally, it all still hangs together by a string and a bit of duct tape. The guitar sound is very raw and brutal with a sharp edge and the keyboard effects are bright and glittering in an evil way. Probably the zenith is reached / the nadir is plumbed with track 10 which starts off with IT making out with some unidentified succubus in a way that will you have going "eeeeyeurk!" or laughing fit to burst and which then lapses into a trudge-a-thon with slurping swamp-monster vocals all the way through.

The best track is perhaps track 11 which leads off with swirling deranged synths into yet another trundle of directionless guitar and gloppy monster utterances (by this time, IT must be underwater with the microphone) and keyboard tones flitting about the edges. Track 12 being "De Profundis Mors Vas Cousumet" is a return to a more structured and sane rhythmic set with controlled guitar while IT sings lyrics you can actually hear; this is actually the most ambient-oriented track with the intro and outro being much the same unearthly trance-like melody plus an interlude featuring a tolling bell.

The CD is structured so that the more mainstream (ha!) pieces are placed at the beginning and at the end (though "De Profundis" was released in 2004, the title track itself was made in 1991) with the wilder and more unconventional tracks in the middle and the funniest ones coming towards the end. Sometimes I wonder whether the lords of Southern Lord dithered or argued as to whether to include the "De Profundis ..." title track or the other piece on that mini-CD that goes for 8 minutes: the noise racket called "Dodsapparaten" which would've been a fun way to round off the compilation but does not feature IT's vocals.

There is a ritualistic aspect to Abruptum's music which on this CD comes out more on the unstructured pieces: here, the level of extreme concentration and dedication, especially on IT's part where he barfs or gets raped, is very apparent. This is where Abruptum had to be at their most intutive and had to feel their way around the music.

The added bonus is that if you want to order this CD at your local neighbourhood record shop, you can actually pronounce the CD's title instead of having to look up your Latin dictionary, that is, if you have one ...