UMUR "Meatcleaver" is the first demo recording by Canadian thrash metal act Slaughter. The demo was independently released in August 1984. Slaugther formed earlier the same year. They are widely considered a seminal thrash (some call them proto-death metal) act from Canada.

This first demo features no less than eleven tracks and a total playing time of 35:04...and believe me you´d wish there were fewer songs and a shorter playing time. Other than the hardcore punk tinged title track, the remaining songs are one-dimenional hardcore/crust punk tinged heavy/speed metal. There´s nothing wrong with the overall music style but the performances are poor and the songwriting worse. The tracks at most feature two riffs which are repeated over and over again, until you think you´re going insane while the lead vocalist speak/sings semi-raw vocals on top of the annoyingly repetitive riffs and rhythms (I swear the drummer only knows one beat).

Not surprisingly the lo-fi sound production values don´t do the poorly composed material and weak musical performances any favors. I´ve listened to my share of primitive, raw, and lo-fi extreme metal demos from both the 80s and the 90s, but I have listened to few which beats this one in being the most unlistenable. A 1 star (20%) rating is warranted.