UMUR "Transgressive Sentience" is the second demo recording by US, Florida death/thrash metal act Hellwitch. The demo was independently released in January 1986. In the time between the 1984 one-track "Nosferatu" demo and "Transgressive Sentience" there have been a few lineup changes. Hellwitch initially started out as the duo of Patrick Ranieri on guitars and Harry Tyler on drums and vocals. Tyler has been replaced on the drums by Dave Silverthrash, while Raneiri has taken over the vocal duties in addition to playing guitar. Bassist Andy Adcock has also been added to the lineup making Hellwitch a trio on "Transgressive Sentience".

"Transgressive Sentience" features four tracks (one is a re-recorded version of "Nosferatu" from the first demo) of technical speed/thrash metal with the early signs of something a little more extreme. only "Nosferatu" would be re-recorded and included on Hellwitch´s debut full-length studio album "Syzygial Miscreancy" (Wild Rags Records, December 1990). Ranieri predominantly sings raw but articulated shouted vocals, but we get to hear his later signature scream a few times too. What you notice right away when listening to "Transgressive Sentience" is the high level musicianship. This is a well playing band and they have some pretty unique songwriting ideas considering their young age. This doesn´t really sound like anyone else.

The demo features a pretty well sounding production considering that this is a January 1986 extreme metal demo and it sits well with the contemporary demo releases by other seminal Florida based extreme metal artists like Executioner (later Xecutioner and even later Obituary), Mantas/Death, Massacre, R.A.V.A.G.E. (later Atheist), and Morbid Angel. A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.