UMUR "Subscription of Hydatidocele" is the first demo recording by Finnish death metal act Lubricant. The demo was independently released in December 1990. Just nine months before the release of "Subscription of Hydatidocele", Lubricant worked under the O.V.D. and played speed metal, so the name change was the least significant change which happened in the those nine months. Going from playing speed metal to death metal in just nine months is something a bit out of the ordinary.

Of course when you listen to the material on "Subscription of Hydatidocele", Lubricant hadn´t yet matured completely into a death metal act. They still had a heavy Hellhammer/Celtic Frost influence and at times even some hardcore punk influences in their music. So this is generally a very primitive and immature take on playing death metal, and the same can be said about the sound quality which is very raw and unpolished too. The guitar tone isn´t that great and the bass is way too high in the mix. The vocals vary between aggressive shouting, screaming, and deeper growling, and even a couple of completely out-of-key clean notes.

The oddball moments makes you wonder if Lubricant really mean business or if this was just recorded during a night of heavy drinking. It´s not an early death metal demo that I can recommend, and thankfully Lubricant would get much better on subsequent releases. A 2 star (40%) rating is warranted.