UMUR
"Grotesque Experience" is the first demo release by Swedish death/doom metal act Obscene. The demo was independently released in November 1990. Originally on cassette tape. Obscene formed in 1990 in the town of Eskilstuna. They only released this demo and then folded. Two of the members of the band would later form House of Usher and subsequently guitarist/vocalist Stefan Källarsson would form Crypt of Kerberos.
"Grotesque Experience" features three tracks and a total playing time of 19:15 minutes. All tracks are relatively long (between 5 and 7 minutes long) and they are predominantly slow, brutal, and raw death/doom metal, although some parts are faster paced death metal (like the opening to "Eternal Doom"). The reverb laden growling vocals are quite powerful and effective, and definitely one of the greatest assets of the demo. The lead guitars sometimes sound a little out of tune, and the drumming is sometimes a little sloppy, but damn this is crushingly brutal and heavy music and the atmosphere is thick with an abysmal darkness...just the way it should be on an early 90s death/doom metal demo.
The sound production is raw, distorted, and a little murky, but since the music most of the time moves at a slow pace, you can still easily hear what´s going in the mix. I would certainly have liked to hear where these guys could have taken this music style, had they had the chance to do so, but as it is "Grotesque Experience" is arguably a good quality doom/death metal demo and well worth seeking out for fans of the genre. It´s a bit amaturish in terms of sound production and also the skills of the musicians, but it all adds to the charm of the release and a 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.