UMUR "Severe Abominations" is an EP release by Swedish death/black metal act Treblinka. The EP was released in july 1989 through the band´s own label Mould in Hell Records. Guitarist/vocalist Johan Edlund (here credited as Hellslaugther) spend all his savings on getting 685, 7" vinyl copies pressed, but they sold out in few weeks, so the release was a great success for Treblinka and is an example of how the demand for extreme metal music ruled (and fueled) the metal underground in the late 80s/early 90s. Treblinka formed in 1987, released two demos, and this EP, before changing their name to Tiamat in 1989.

"Severe Abominations" features two tracks and a total playing time of 9:37 minutes. Side A features the title track which is a new original track and Side B features "Earwigs in Your Veins", which had already appeared on the November 1988 "Crawling in Vomits" demo. Both tracks were recorded at Sunlight Studio in April 1989. Stylistically they are a death/thrash/black metal hybrid and just continues the style of music the band initiated on their two preceding demo releases. The sound production is slightly better than on the demos, but just sligthly. This is still a relatively crude and primitive release. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.

UMUR "The Sign of the Pentagram" is the second demo release by Swedish death/black metal act Treblinka. The demo was independently released in March 1989. Treblinka formed in 1987, released two demos, and the "Severe Abominations" EP (released in July 1989 through the band´s own label Mould in Hell Records), before changing their name to Tiamat in 1989.

While Treblinka´s first demo "Crawling in Vomits" (November 1988) was recorded at Sunlight Studio (possibly the first death metal release recorded at the now famous recording studio), the band opted to record the material for "The Sign of the Pentagram" at Studio Z. Interestingly enough that has resulted in a darker, murkier, and more heavy sound compared to the relatively thin sounding production job on the first demo.

Stylistically Treblinka play a death/thrash/black metal hybrid style, which was quite unusual for the time and the scene they were part of (the Stockholm death metal scene), but they obviously went their own ways, and played the style of music they loved, instead of changing their sound to blend in with their contemporaries. It makes the material on "The Sign of the Pentagram" sound a bit old fashioned and slightly outdated though, and while there are certainly quality riffs and songwriting ideas found here, and the dark foul atmophere of the release is also a positive, "The Sign of the Pentagram" is not the most groundbreaking nor the most interesting extreme metal demo release from those days. Still a 3 star (60%) rating isn´t all wrong.

UMUR "Crawling in Vomits" is the first demo release by Swedish death/black metal act Treblinka. The demo was independently released in November 1988. It´s noteworthy that the demo was recorded at Sunlight Studio and to my knowledge it´s the first death metal release recorded at the studio (the early Nihilist and Dismember demos were recorded at Studio Z). Treblinka formed in 1987, released two demos, and the "Severe Abominations" EP (released in July 1989 through the band´s own label Mould in Hell Records), before changing their name to Tiamat in 1989.

Stylistically the material on "Crawling in Vomits" is a death/thrash/black metal hybrid. The term black metal meant something else in 1988 than it would just a few years down the line, so this is just blackened death/thrash and not really what most people would perceive as black metal. "Crawling in Vomits" generally sound quite different from contemporary releases by fellow countrymen like Nihilist, Dismember, and Grave, as Treblinka appear more influenced by artists like Bathory, Venom, and Hellhammer (not completely unlike an artist like the Swiss in Samael), than by the US and the UK death metal and grindcore scenes, which were the scenes their contemporaries were mostly influenced by.

"Crawling in Vomits" doesn´t feature the trademark Sunlight Studio production either. Instead the sound production on the demo is relatively thin sounding with a guitar tone which isn´t highly distorted and not particularly heavy sounding. So Treblinka may have been part of the same scene as the other upcoming Swedish death metal acts, but their music style and their image (they wore corpse paint and spouted a Satanic image) were quite different from that scene.

As a first demo release "Crawling in Vomits" is quite decent and shows a young band with reasonable playing skills, and some effective songwriting ideas. It´s not the most groundbreaking Swedish extreme metal demo from those days, but the overall quality is alright and a 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.