UMUR "Endless Tears Of The Distant Sea" is a compilation album by Finnish death metal act Cerebrum. The compilation was released through Old Skull Productions in October 2017 (originally only in a very limited number of cassette tape copies). "Endless Tears Of The Distant Sea" comprise the material from the 1993 "Demo #1" demo and the 1994 "Grief" demo plus two previously unreleased tracks ("Anima Liberum" and "Endless Tears of the Distant Sea").

Cerebrum originally formed in in the Finnish city of Turku under the Midsummers Night's Dream monicker, but soon changed their name to Cerebrum. They were a relatively shortlived act releasing only the 1993 "Demo #1" demo and the this second demo before disbanding.

"Endless Tears Of The Distant Sea" opens with the 6 tracks from the 1993 "Demo #1" demo, and at this point Cerebrum played a brutal, technically well played, and effective old school death metal style. The album features a few rare excursions into something a bit more melodic, but is otherwise a consistent and high quality old school death metal demo, featuring a well sounding production job.

The material from the 1994 "Grief" demo follows, and in only a matter of months Cerebrum had significantly changed their style to playing a semi-progressive, melodic, and keyboard enhanced death metal style, which is creative and innovative alright, but inconsistent and not a particularly enjoyable listen. There are fascinating songwriting ideas here, but they are not executed in a well sounding manner. The sound production is also pretty unpolished and slightly unbalanced (the guitars a placed too low, and the drums too high).

If I should guess the two previously unreleased tracks were recorded between the two demo recording sessions, because they are both relatively brutal old school death metal tracks with a doomy edge, but they both also feature keyboards, which the material on the first demo didn´t. Both a pretty interesting and well composed tracks.

So upon conclusion Cerebrum obviously had a short and very inconsistent career in terms of music style and direction. They were still a young band in the process of developing a unique style, when they disbanded and it´s audible. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.

UMUR "Grief" is the second demo by Finnish death metal act Cerebrum. The demo was independently released on cassette tape in 1994. It´s the successor to "Demo #1" from November 1993. Cerebrum originally formed in in the Finnish city of Turku under the Midsummers Night's Dream monicker, but soon changed their name to Cerebrum. They were a relatively shortlived act releasing only the 1993 "Demo #1 demo and the this second demo before disbanding. Both demos plus some extra material were featured on the 2017 compilation album "Endless Tears Of The Distant Sea".

In only a very short time Cerebrum have significantly changed their sound from pretty raw and brutal old school death metal, to playing a semi-progressive, melodic, and keyboard enhanced death metal style on "Grief". It´s quite the transformation, but also a testimony to the major changes the Finnish (and the international) scene went through in a short timespan. "Grief" is loaded with interesting songwriting ideas and it´s performed with technical skill, but it´s a pretty confusing listen, and also features a couple of slightly cringe worthy moments. The clean/talking vocals on the title track was for example a very bad idea (they work much better on "Sweet Melodies from the Surging Sea (Where You Sleep)"). The growling vocals are the most brutal feature on the album, while the music is often more melodic and because of the keyboards also pretty atmospheric.

The sound production is unpolished and not particularly well sounding, although all instruments and vocals are clearly audible in the mix (the drums are a bit high and the guitars a bit low, but otherwise the balance is decent).

Upon conclusion "Grief" is a bit of a head scratcher. It´s sounds like a band in the midst of experimenting and finding their sound, which is interesting enough, but doesn´t really make for a consistent or particularly enjoyable listening experience. This should probably have been recorded as a rehearsal demo, and used by the band members to strongly edit their material, before going into the studio and recording a more well thought out and consistent demo. I give points for creativity and innovation, but not many points for "Grief" being a demo I´d want to revisit that often (the opposite is the case with their first demo, which is quite brilliant). A 2.5 - 3 star (55%) rating is warranted.

UMUR "Demo #1" is as the title suggests the first demo by Finnish death metal act Cerebrum. The demo was independently released on cassette tape in November 1993. Cerebrum originally formed in in the Finnish city of Turku under the Midsummers Night's Dream monicker, but soon changed their name to Cerebrum. They were a relatively shortlived act releasing only this demo and the 1994 "Grief" demo before disbanding. Both demos plus some extra material were featured on the 2017 compilation album "Endless Tears Of The Distant Sea".

The demo features 6 tracks ("Greenslaves" is a short intro) and a total playing time of 18:49 minutes. It´s plenty of time to get to know Cerebrum, and hear that they produce quality old school death metal. Brutality, rawness, tempo changes, a well playing band, and some effective vicious growling are some of the ingredients of the demo. "Oath of Sinful" and "Prophecy from the Skies" are absolutely scorching old school death metal tracks, and while that is also true for the remaining tracks of the demo, Cerebrum sometimes try out a few melodic ideas, which point in the direction they would soon take on the "Grief" demo (listen to the opening of "There Where Sun Was Never Shine" to hear some of that).

"Demo #1" features a well sounding production keeping in mind that this is a demo recording. Powerful, effective, and detailed enough to hear all instruments and vocals in the music. I personally could have done without the melodic moments (although they appear very sparsely), as they bring a little inconsistency to the demo, but other than that "Demo #1" is a high quality old school death metal demo release. A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.