Abramelin (1990-2001)

Genre:Death Metal
Country: Australia

One of Australia's best kept secrets, Abramelin produced some grade A death metal that possessed that old school brutality with tinges of non cheese infested melodies. Within the bands 11 year career the band suffered from a severe case of the dreaded revolving door lineup, with the only constants being vocalist Simon Dower and guitarist Tim Aldridge. While their first EP and full length was recorded with a full band, their last full length, Deadspeak, was recorded with a drum machine.

Band or no band, Dower penned some of the dirtiest lyrics that caused controversy in their home land, and performed them with excellence. His voice fits the music extremely well, somewhat reminding me of both sides of Carcass. Aldridge produced some of the most headbangable riffs I've heard. With the perfect amounts of groove, brutality, and melody, he had the formula down for each song. Hell, he's even not afraid to bust out the acoustic guitar for a nice contrast and mood settler. Together they wrote some awesome songs that separated themselves from the rest of the pack.


Transgression From Acheron [EP] (1994)
A nice little release. Dirty, yet audible. Only song re-recorded later on is Humble Abode.


Abramelin (1996)
This is probably the definitive album they released. Recorded with a full band, with that nice gritty old-school production. You can hear the cymbols vibrate! Songs like Misfortune, Humble Abode, and both parts of Stargazer is where the band shines. Hell, it's even ended with a mindblowingly awesome cover of Dead Can Dance's Cantara.



Deadspeak (2000)
The band's swan song. This was recorded as a two piece, and yes, it does have a drum machine. But don't be worried, it sounds well done and you can tell that the band wanted to play the material live. There are some inhuman rolls and a missed fill here and there, but it's nothing worth crying over. The production is prettier this time around, taming the guitar tone from last time around and putting the rest in its place. The band still maintains it's old school sound despite these.