UMUR "A Moment of Love" is an EP release by Danish death metal act Detest. The EP was released through Dark Symphonies in March 2019. Detest formed in 1990, released the successful "DeathBreed" demo in 1992 and their debut full-length studio album "Dorval" in 1994. They recorded a 1995 promo for Diehard Music label but folded in 1996 without releasing a sophomore studio album. Detest reunited in 2013 playing sporadic gigs (revived is probably a more correct term as the only remaining original member is guitarist John Petersen), but "A Moment of Love" is their first label release in 25 years.

Stylistically this is pretty brutal, yet still heavy and groove laden death metal (predominantly mid-paced, although some parts are faster). It´s not instantly recognisable as the sound of 90s Detest, and it could have been another band playing (especially since the band have incorporated some contemporary death metal influences and don´t sound old school), but the quality is relatively high and so are the energy level and intensity of the music. New lead vocalist Lasse Lund uses many different extreme metal styles from deep growling, to aggressive snarling, to high pitched screaming (sounding like a young Chris Barnes), and the vocal part of the music is therefore both pretty varied and certainly entertaining.

"A Moment of Love" features a well sounding production job, further enhancing the brutality and intensity of the material. The musicianship is also on a high level and the material is well written and memorable for the style, so upon conclusion "A Moment of Love" is a welcome comeback for Detest and shows great promise for future releases. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "We Will Get What We Deserve" is the 2nd full-length studio album by Danish death metal act Detest. The album was released through Emanzipation Productions in December 2021. Detest formed in 1990 and disbanded in 1996 after releasing the well received demo tape "DeathBreed" in 1992 and their debut full-lenght studio album "Dorval" in 1994. They reunited in 2013 and their first release after reuniting was the 2019 "A Moment of Love" EP. "We Will Get What We Deserve" is however their first full-length studio album in 25 years and only guitarist John Petersen remains from the 90s lineup. New in the lineup are Simon Springborg (bass, vocals) and Danni Jelsgaard (drums).

"We Will Get What We Deserve" features a thick, meaty, and brutal death metal sound. It´s predominantly mid-paced and heavy death metal feauturing a nice brutal groove. A quick re-listen to "Dorval" (1994) reveals that Detest still sounds a lot like they did in the 90s, but with an upgraded and more brutal and clear sounding production. "We Will Get What We Deserve" sounds massive and it´s overall an incredibly heavy sounding album. Springborg has a commanding and deep growling vocal style, but it´s unfortunately almost completely unintelligible and also a little one-dimensional. There aren´t that many leads on the album, which is a shame, as when they occur they bring a lot to the soundscape.

Upon conclusion "We Will Get What We Deserve" is a good quality death metal album and a welcome comeback for Detest. "Dorval" (1994) was a little more adventurous, while "We Will Get What We Deserve" focus more on heaviness and brutality. Some riffs are sharp, brutal, groovy, and memorable, but there is a tendency for the tracks to sound a bit too much alike. Maybe it´s the almost constant mid-pace of the music or the heavy meaty sound production working as a disadvantage, but not many tracks stand out. A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.

UMUR "Dorval" is the debut full-length studio album by Danish death metal act Detest. The album was released through Progress Red Labels in February 1994. Detest was one of the most hyped Danish death metal acts in the early nineties because of the "DeathBreed (1992)" cassette demo tape. In addition to touring activities, "DeathBreed" was sold in quite a large number of copies and therefore Detest was already a well known act in the Danish underground before the release of "Dorval".

"Dorval" is a sci-fi themed concept death metal album. The music on the album pretty standard old school death metal though. Predominantly played at a heavy groove laden mid-pace. The growls are deep but lead vocalist Peter Jørgensen can also sing slightly higher pitched aggressive vocals. It´s obvious the band have put great effort and care into building the concept, but at 56:58 minutes "Dorval" is maybe a bit too long for its own good, despite the band trying to create variation by incorporating atmospheric sections like the acoustic guitar/flute interlude track "Dorval (Revenging Hour)" or by laying down some well played leads.

While the material is overall effective and powerful old school death metal and the sci-fi concept definitely provides the music with something a little extra, the sub-par sound production unfortunately does little to bring out the best in the compositions. In fact the poor sounding production does exactly the opposite, resulting in even making tracks which are obviously good compositions sound like demos. I´m afraid I´m not at all surprised that "Dorval" was recorded at Borsing Recording, Aarhus, Denmark and produced by Jan Borsing, which is the studio and the producer responsible for quite a few bad sounding contemporary Danish death metal albums ("Four Depressive Seasons" by Illdisposed is another example).

When that is said "Dorval" isn´t as such a bad album. After releasing what is arguably one of the best Danish death metal demos, the expectations to how "Dorval" would sound were just so much bigger than what the band managed to produce. The sound production ruins what on many other parameters is a quality death metal release. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.

UMUR "DeathBreed" is a demo cassette tape by Danish death metal act Detest. The demo was self-released in October 1992 and is the band´s first release. Detest were founded in 1991, but quickly became one of the most prolific Danish death metal acts of the early 90s. "DeathBreed" is to my knowledge still one of the best selling Danish extreme metal demo tapes. Expectations were therefore high to their debut full-length studio album "Dorval", which was released in 1994 through the Progress Red Label, but somehow "Dorval" failed to provide the band with the same high profile success as "DeathBreed" did, and after releasing a promo tape in 1995, they disbanded in 1996. Maybe times had changed (in 1994 death metal was already in decline), or maybe the quality of "Dorval" simply didn´t live up to the high expectations that the fans had after listening to "DeathBreed". Having listened to both releases back when they came out and again today, I lean towards the latter explanation. "DeathBreed" is simply a better quality release than "Dorval".

It´s not often you´ll come across demos that are better than the succeeding studio album, but "DeathBreed" is one of those few exceptions to the rule. The music on the 4 track demo is old school death metal. It´s not highly original but it doesn´t belong to any particular death metal school either (old school Swedish death metal, Florida scene, New York scene...etc.). It´s brutal, it´s catchy, it´s heavy (and mostly mid-paced) and edgy, and it´s generally very well played. Considering the fact that these guys had at this point only played together for little over a year, they were already pretty skilled and tight playing. Lead vocalist P. Jørgensen delivers a convincing deep growling performance and occasionally visits more aggressive snarling vocal territory too, which is great for the variation in the vocal department.

So both the songwriting and the delivery of the music are satisfactory, but it´s the professional, raw, and powerful sound production that puts the icing on the cake. Because of the strong sound production "DeathBreed" could easily have been released as an EP instead of a demo, and overall it´s just a high quality demo in every way possible. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is well deserved and might even be a bit too low.