Kev Rowland
The complete title of this release is ‘Transgressing The Afterlife – The Complete Recordings 1988-2002’ and as the name implies, this is an attempt to bring together all recordings of Australia’s most famous death metal act Abramelin (who were originally called Acheron). It includes both studio albums, the infamous ‘Transgression From Acheron’ EP, all tracks of the band’s demos and EP as well as three previously unreleased studio/rehearsal songs and seven high quality live tracks. In total there are 46 tracks, of which 15 are previously unreleased, and the total length is nearly four hours long! It is clearly a labour of love, and one thing that really impressed me is the quality of the sound throughout. Normally when faced with complete sets like this, much of it is of interest just for the historical context as opposed to playing this for pleasure (step forward Autopsy for example). But, even the rehearsal tracks sound as if they were recorded with a view for possible release as the sound is good and clear.
The reason I mention Autopsy is that there are definitely times when these guys are quite reminiscent, but at others they dabble in grind and also aren’t afraid to throw in some really nice acoustic instrumental interludes just to show that they can do something different, as well as set the scene for something quite over the top to follow. This was sent to me as a download to review, which in many ways is a shame as if this much care has gone into the sound I would be really interested in seeing the booklet which apparently includes rare photos, artwork and an in-depth interview with Simon Dower (vocals) and Tim Aldridge (guitar). But, this is much more than just a simple bringing together of material from a band that stopped more than ten years ago, but rather is a release packed full of great music and one that I highly recommend.