UMUR
"The Odious Reflection" is a demo cassette tape by Swedish death metal act Afflicted. The demo was independently released in November 1990. Afflicted formed in 1988 under the Afflicted Convulsion monicker and released three demos under that band name before shortening their name to Afflicted in 1990. They released a rehearsal tape and a promo under their new monicker before releasing "The Odious Reflection" demo.
The last Afflicted Convulsion was the "Beyond Redemption" demo from the spring of 1990 and it was a raw and aggressive deathgrinding death metal release. Since that demo was recorded there has been a lineup change on the lead vocalist position as Martin Holm has been replaced by Joakim Bröms (Holm did sing on the 1990 "Promo Rehearsal" tape though). Another major change was the fact that the band recorded the material for "The Odious Reflection" at the Sunlight Studio with producer Tomas Skogsberg making the band a more integral part of the early Swedish death metal scene.
The band have opted to re-record "Utilization" from the "The Odious Reflection" (1990) demo, so they have carried some of the deathgrinding nature of the Afflicted Convulsion sound to this demo. The remaining tracks on the 5 track, 16:30 minutes long demo are also in this style, and therefore the demo is quite unusual sounding compared to other contemporary artists like Carnage, Entombed, and Grave (recorded at Sunlight Studio with producer Tomas Skogsberg or not), featuring only a few of the elements their contemporaries were known for (the bass drum sound is probably the feature which comes closest).
The sound production is raw, savage, and relatively noisy and muddy, but not without its charm. There´s certainly the right amount of darkness and grit here to create the right gloomy and morbid atmosphere. A 2.5 star (50%) rating is warranted.