UMUR
"Maniac Psycho Abyss" is a split release between Japanese death metal act Hellchild and Japanese thrash metal act Gigantic Khmer. The Split was released through Strange Records in 1990. Gigantic Khmer has a relatively short career existing from 1988-1992 releasing the 1989 demo "A Fetus" and this split before disbanding. Hellchild existed a little longer with more releases under their belt and didn´t end their original run until 2001.
Hellchild is represented here with one track while Gigantic Khmer have two tracks featured on the split. The Hellchild track is a thrash infused old school death metal track. It´s actually only the raw growling vocals which point in a death metal direction as the riffs and rhythms of the track are clearly in thrash metal territory. Gigantic Khmer is a more straight thrash metal act, influenced by the US scene. They have slightly better production values than Hellchild, and their material is generally a bit more powerful and intense, although I do enjoy the odd melodic moments on the Hellchild track.
So upon conclusion "Maniac Psycho Abyss" is a nice little split release from the late 80s/early 90s Japanese underground. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.