UMUR "Pits of Utumno" is the first demo recording by German death metal act Morgoth. The demo was independently released in June 1988. Morgoth formed in 1987, although their origins can be traced as far back as 1985 when they worked under the Cadaverous Smell, Exterminator, and Minas Morgul monickers (in that chronology in the period 1985-1987).

Morgoth are one of the earliest German death metal acts and their 1989 "Resurrection Absurd" EP is one of the first German death metal releases, and although they were only a death metal band for a relatively short period in time before they started experimenting with other music styles, they are widely considered a seminal German death metal act (along with artists like Atrocity and Fleshcrawl).

Stylistically the material on "Pits of Utumno" isn´t pure death metal though, but more a brutal and aggressive thrash metal style with some death metal elements. Lead vocalist/bassist Marc Grewe had not yet developed a growling vocal style, and instead performs a gnarly and raw snarling death/thrash rabid dog vocal style. If he hadn´t changed his vocal style on subsequent releases, he could actually have been a great death/thrash vocalist, because he sounds really great here.

Only two of the six tracks from the 22:10 minutes long demo would appear on subsequent Morgoth releases. "Eternal Sanctity" and "Pits of Utumno" would be re-recorded and included on Morgoth´s second EP release "The Eternal Fall" from May 1990. The remaining tracks are exclusive to this demo. It´s not that the two tracks Morgoth chose to re-record are any less thrashy than the other tracks on the demo, but of course they sound less thrashy in their re-recorded versions with Marc Grewe growling on them instead of performing the rabid dog snarls he does here.

It´s obvious that Morgoth were already a well playing band and that they also understood how to compose an effectful song, and it´s therefore no wonder that they got signed pretty fast by Century Media Records for the release of "Resurrection Absurd" (released in November 1989). A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.