UMUR "Reverie" is the debut full-length studio album by Spanish, Galicia based technical/progressive death metal act Absorbed. The album was recorded in 1999 but never officially released although the band on occasion has made the album available for free download. So this is one of those odd cases where a release date isn´t 100% valid. While Absorbed released both a couple of demos and a split release with fellow Galicia based acts Dismal and Unnatural, "Reverie" is their sole album release.

The music on "Reverie" is technical/progressive death metal with references to Atheist, Cynic, and especially Sadist. This time around less technically focused and more atmospheric. While the band are generally well playing, they are still at least one level below the above mentioned acts and the same can be said about the songwriting. Taking into account that "Reverie" is a self-financed release it´s still pretty decent though. The sound production isn´t the most powerful but it´s not terrible either.

All in all "Reverie" is a slight below standard release by Absorbed. The album features lots of promise and intriguing ideas, but the musicianship, the songwriting and the sound production do drag my rating down a bit. I don´t want to be too negative about this release but I´m probably being a bit nice with a 2.5 - 3 star (55%) rating.

UMUR "Avowals" is a split release between the three Spanish, Galicia based metal/hardcore acts Absorbed, Dismal and Unnatural. The split was released by Man Records in 1994.

The three bands represent three different musical styles. Absorbed play a technical/progressive death metal style in the vein of Atheist and especially the Italiens in Sadist comes to mind. Dismal play hardcore while Unnatural play death metal. The former and the latter both have four tracks featured on the split while Dismal have six tracks featured. Absorbed are probably the most interesting act on the split and they are quite well playing too. The sound quality isn´t that great though and this mostly sounds like demo material. You do get the general idea that especially Absorbed have a lot of interesting ideas, that could probably have been worked on and developed into something great with better time in a studio.

"Avowals" might not be the most interesting release today, but back in 1994 it was pretty interesting to hear bands from that part of the world (yeah metal from Spain was once considered pretty exotic), and all three of them do a decent job here. A 2.5 - 3 star (55%) rating is warranted.