UMUR "Timid Reality" is a cassette tape demo release by Danish, Esbjerg based death/doom metal act Caustic. The demo is the band´s second release and it was released in July 1992.

"Timid Reality" can almost be considered a full-length studio album, with 7 tracks and a full playing time of 43:00 minutes. The sound production is professional, powerful, and detailed (co-produced with prolific Danish producer Jacob Hansen), and considering that "Timid Reality" is a 1992 death metal demo and compared to the sound quality on many contemporary death metal demo releases, it´s almost impossible to believe that this is actually a demo. At this point Caustic had also forged a death/doom metal style that was pretty original for the time. The "An Integral Sense (1991)" demo showed great promise and the introduction of the band´s unique fusion influenced drumming style, but on "Timid Reality" that style is in full bloom.

Drummer Carsten Gierlevsen is the most remarkable musician on the demo, and his playing makes Caustic´s death/doom metal style stand out among their contemporaries and also provides the music with a progressive touch. The structures of the tracks are relatively progressive too though, and this is fairly intriguing music with both heavy riffs, melancholic leads/harmonies, clean guitar sections, and Søren Jansen´s distinct sounding snarling growls in front.

So upon conclusion "Timid Reality" is a high quality demo release by Caustic. The only issue I have is that some of the tracks feature sections which aren´t as interesting as the best material on the album. But tracks like "Lacrymose Progeny" and the title track pull in the positive direction. Even featuring a few compositional flaws, I´ll still call it one of the greatest Danish death metal demos from that time and a 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is fully deserved (and that´s maybe even a slightly too low rating).