UMUR "Tragedy Strikes" is the 2nd full-length studio album by US, Chicago based thrash metal act Abomination. The album was released through Nuclear Blast Records in 1991. It features the exact same lineup who recorded the self-titled debut album from 1990. Abomination was a relatively short lived thrash metal project that Master frontman/bassist Paul Speckmann had while also running Master.

Stylistically the material on "Tragedy Strikes" continues the raw thrash metal style of the debut album. It´s pretty basic and mostly mid-paced thrash metal which is decent enough, but nothing out of the ordinary. The sound production is not the most powerful considering that this was released in 1991, and there´s just little on the album which pull my rating in a positive direction. And that includes the musicianship, which again is decent enough, but not more than that.

So this is in most ways a standard quality thrash metal album, which isn´t particularly memorable beyond it´s playing time. It´s not as such a bad quality release, but there is generally not much to say about it, because so little of the album sticks out and makes an impression. Those familiar with early Master and Deathstrike can more or less expect a pale version of those artists. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.

Vim Fuego Producer, vocalist and guitarist Paul Speckman was one of the figures who helped shape death metal as we know it now. While Master is his best–known project, Abomination seems to have been consigned to the bargain bin of history. It shouldn't have been.

Abomination was solid sub–death thrash, heavy, serious and intelligent. Abomination dealt great slabs of songs, as noisy as a shipyard building a battleship. The three–piece band generated this huge sound with a minimum of fuss, a fact which probably counted against the band in the end.

Aside from opener "Blood for Oil", the rest of the album is unremarkable, in the sense that you know you've just received a damn good dose of thrash, it's just that you can't remember any of it. It's like going to a football match where your team scores in the first minute, then plays out for a 1–0 win– it's the result you wanted, but getting there was not as exciting as it could have been.

"Blood for Oil" though, is the kind of stomping, relentless opener bands like Nuclear Assault and Sodom managed less often than they would have liked. Taking snippets of news bulletins from the first Gulf War, Speckman questioned the motives and results of the short–lived desert war, asking if oil is really worth the human toll, on both sides, of armed conflict.

Elsewhere, it seems Paul Speckman wasn't too keen on the country he lives in. "Oppression" asks if there really is freedom in American society. "Pull The Plug" is not a cover of the Death song, but rather a diatribe aimed at drunk drivers. "Industrial Sickness" examines the damage industry causes to people and environment. Yep, America was sick in 1991, and little seems to have changed since.

While not an album to impress a non–believer as to how good thrash can be, there's still plenty on offer here — no frills music played with conviction, and thought provoking, politically motivated lyrics. A nice history piece.