ABREMALIN- "ABREMALIN" (REPULSE RECORDS)

Formerly known as Acheron (making Australia an unsafe place with a 7" EP called "Deprived of Afterlife" and a mini CD "Transgression from Acheron"), Abremalin spent part of 1995 in the studio to unleash upon mankind the maliciously brutal "Abremalin". Despite its obvious underground death metal potential, the album fails to sell well. Bidding farewell to the obviously failing business of small record label Thrust, Abremalin embrace the favours of Spanish label Repulse, where "Abremalin" is re-released with more effective promotion (with a second CD to be released later this year).

All 40 minutes of the CD are filled with uncompromised death metal with energetic drums that quite literally pump the CD to heights probably unattained by any of their earlier releases. "Abremalin" does not actually have on it any specific highs, though this says more about the overall high level than anything else. People who proclaim the death of death metal should think again. Abremalin will probably fail to win any originality awards, but their album sounds relentlessly solid.

For those into Dead Can Dance, it might be worth mentioning that Abremalin have done a cover of "Cantara". If you can't find the CD anywhere, contact Repulse Records (P.O. Box 50562, 28080 Madrid, Spain, repulse@arsys.es.

RK

Written July 1998

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