About this product

Product Identifiers

Record LabelSound Pollution

UPC6663666000278

eBay Product ID (ePID)16050123981

Product Key Features

FormatCD

Release Year2007

GenreHeavy Metal

Run Time43 Mins 32 Seconds

ArtistAbruptum

Release TitleEvil Genius *

Additional Product Features

DistributionFontana Distribution

Number of Discs1

Country/Region of ManufactureUSA

ReviewsKerrang (Magazine) (p.47) - "This collection of their darkest moments is a tremendously horrifying an terrifyingly exhilarating black metal abyss..."

Additional informationWhat truly defines a black metal record? To some it's a glossy, anthemic Wall of Sound. An impenetrable wall of metallic guitars and relentless drumming embellished with organs, strings, synths, and the occasional caterwauling vocal. To others, it's an astoundingly lo-fi affair, as some of the earliest -- and most revered -- work in the genre contains in grave digging spades. Add to both aspects a heavy dose of darkness, Satan, and general doom and gloom (others might add that the corpse-paint and over the top nicknames are essential) and you've more than likely got a solid black metal record. For the most part, bands like Emperor have done all of these things, and that's what made them stand out in the long run. Groups like Abruptum, on the other hand, are not only in the general musical sense an acquired taste, but in the metal world itself, they certainly defy description and are not the easiest act to get one's head around. Nowhere is this more apparent than on Evil Genius, a Southern Lord-released collection of the Swedish band's early work. Included on this -- quite astounding, honestly -- disc are the demos Hexum Galaem Zelog and the Satanist Tapes, as well as the 7" single "Evil," which showcase the band not only in a nascent period, but also a band working out their sound, which would eventually not consist of one- to six-minute blasts of "evil," but would take up whole sides of albums. The sound here is decidedly under-produced -- it sounds like it was recorded in an old, empty stone church that has been buried underground -- yet it's a huge and heavy collection of bursts of noise and sludge. The drums are bathed in echo so that they, for the most part, cover up any of the guitar work (which in itself is "produced" in such a way as to make it more like just another part of a sonic "wall"). The vocals, at times up front, at others buried or backward tracked, are indecipherable not solely due to their delivery, but also to the fact that they're in Latin, adding yet another layer of mystery. So how does this all fit in with the rest of metal or black metal? Well, It certainly has that metal feel. And even though this is a noise record, there is no way this could be mistaken with the noise genre itself, which has been a distant relative of jazz. Things are in minor keys, tuned down, (occasional) riffing, there is the occasional black metal freak-out ("Feci Factum Sanguine Gladios Made Fieri Factusthere" and "Turannum Bellux Eventus Alci Exeo Sivium Vitae Carhaginis Integra" for example) and an obviously a Satanic fixation. Evil Genius is at heart and soul a metal record, but one that pushes that genre's boundaries to such a degree as to make it an almost distant memory. When looking at Evil Genius as a metal record, it could be argued that this is more doom metal than black metal, but doom has always maintained a distance from that otherworldly Satanic aspect, and never really been at home with buried tinkling piano notes, random bell sound