ABRAMELIN — Transgressing the Afterlife - The Complete Recordings 1988-2002 (review)

ABRAMELIN — Transgressing the Afterlife - The Complete Recordings 1988-2002 album cover Boxset / Compilation · 2013 · Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
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.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Tarantula Heart Sludge Metal
MELVINS
Buy this album from MMA partners
God Damned You To Hell Traditional Doom Metal
FRIENDS OF HELL
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Absence Melodic Death Metal
THE ABSENCE
Buy this album from MMA partners
Unextinct Technical Death Metal
HIDEOUS DIVINITY
Buy this album from MMA partners
Powerlords Power Metal
ELETTRA STORM
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Fallen Ashes - Wage War (Official Lyric Video)
FALLEN ASHES
Bosh66· 5 days ago
EXISTENTIAL DEAD - Unreality (Single) 2024
EXISTENTIAL DEAD
Bosh66· 5 days ago
EXISTENTIAL DEAD - Cold Hands
EXISTENTIAL DEAD
Bosh66· 5 days ago
IRON MONKEY - Misanthropizer (Official Music Video)
IRON MONKEY
Bosh66· 8 days ago
??? (Losing ART) - "????" (Official Music Video) [HD]
漂浮者樂團
Bosh66· 8 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed