UMUR "Solstice of Oppression" is the debut full-length studio album by US death metal act Oppressor. The album was released through Red Light Records in April 1994. "Solstice of Oppression" has subsequently seen a couple of reissues through different labels. Oppressor was formed in 1990 and released three full-length studio albums in the years between 1994 and 1998. Several of the members are now active in the alternative metal act Soil.

The music on "Solstice of Oppression" is technical death metal. The vocals are deep and unintelligible growls which provide the music with a brutal edge. The riffing is fast and technical, the drumming varied and adventurous, and the songwriting relatively interesting. The monotone and somewhat passionless growls are a minor issue to my ears, but other than that the music on the album is pretty powerful and effective. There are semi-progressive leanings in the music in addition to the technical playing, which especially manifest in the occasional clean guitar parts.

While the music is both well played, decently composed, and relatively well produced, I still feel there´s a lack of memorable moments and few tracks stand out. I suspect it´s primarily because of the monotone growling vocals, but my attention also starts to wander a couple of times during the 9 tracks, 41:42 minutes long album, which is probably due to the general quality of the songwriting. Repeated listens help though and overall "Solstice of Oppression" is still a quality death metal release deserving a 3.5 star (70%) rating.

UMUR Elements of Corrosion is the 3rd full-length studio album by American death metal act Oppressor. The album was released in August 1998 by Olympic Recordings. As it is, Elements of Corrosion turned out to be the last album released by the band. Several of the members would go on the form the alternative metal act Soil.

The music on the album is technical death metal with the occassional progressive touch. The latter element is very seldom though and this is first and foremost a brutal yet technically well played death metal album with loads of tempo changes and a generally adventurous approach to writing music. Pre-Obscura (1998) Gorguts is still what comes to mind as the primary influence, but also a band like Suffocation comes to mind. Oppressor are an exceptionally well played act and the 9 tracks on the 32:08 minute long album are packed with tight precision playing. The production is good but nothing out of the ordinary.

Elements of Corrosion is a great technical death metal album by Oppressor and I´m sure I would have loved it, had I listened to it when it was released. much water has run under the bridge since 1998 though ( and a lot of great technical death metal releases) and while there are many great ideas on Elements of Corrosion, I still find it lacking that extra something that could have put it among the elite technical death metal releases of the nineties. It´s probably an aquired taste though but I find a 3.5 star rating warranted.

UMUR Agony is the 2nd full-length studio album by US, Chicago based death metal act Oppressor. The album was released in October 1996 by Olympic Recordings in the US and by Die Hard Music in Europe.

The music on Agony is death metal with a technical edge. I´ve often seen Oppressor compared to bands such as Pestilence, Atheist and Cynic but the music on Agony rather reminds me of the technical yet brutal death metal style on the first two albums by Gorguts. The quality level is also about the same as on the mentioned albums by Gorguts. Which is high allthough I´m not exactly blown away. I really enjoy the vocals by Tim King. Deep growling and very brutal. The band was formed back in 1990 and there´s a distinct old school US death metal sound to the music on this album that´s greatly enjoyable IMO. The technical playing makes the album a bit more than your regular old schood US death metal album though.

The production is powerful and brutal with the growling vocals high in the mix. I´m not a fan of the rather weak bass drum sound, but that might be an aquired taste.

Agony is a pretty great death metal album and it does what good death metal albums should do. It´s brutal yet the songs are memorable and there are several hooks throughout the album´s playing time that helps keep my attention on the music. I wouldn´t call it out and out excellent but a big 3.5 star rating is certainly deserved.