Scraping the sky loose of its burning ozone and hailing down widespread possession, the black-winged and bone-fingered death touch of Oslo, Norway-based death metal trio ABHORRATION moves in familiar ways but brings its own fastidious maniac verve to classicist forms on this impressive debut full-length album. At ~37 minutes in length and chopped into six songs ‘Demonolatry‘ presents reasonably immersive, stunningly energetic possession as they present hard-hit songcraft which finds the band twisted, freely whipping and gnashing throughout their exploration of the riff. Their work is restlessly feral yet conditioned by the ancient ones, addressing and mangling the over-active and lit afire side of late 80’s death metal expression incited by ‘Altars of Madness‘ and other nearby greats.

Abhorration formed as a trio circa 2020 as guitarist/vocalist Magnus Garathun (ex-Condor, Hecatomb) brought in his ‘Unstoppable Power‘ cohort/drummer Øyvind Kvam (Purple Hill Witch) and bassist Andreas Hagen (Mabuse) for a set of four songs that’d become their riff rifled brain-crashing ‘After Winter Comes War‘ (2021) tape. At the time they’d had Arild Torp (Nekromantheon, Obliteration) mix the demo and provide a guest spot on lead guitar and it must’ve resonated as he’d soon joined on as their lead guitarist. At the time I’d described the tape as “demo of the year” and to “Expect real-ass late 80’s death metal here, frantic and filth-flinging thrasher minded assaults fleshed out into album ready songs. Precision murder riffs abound alongside the right irreverent, barking mad attitude.” as it’d been one of the most promising releases of that year riff-after-riff. As for what their sound entailed, think of the next step beyond Possessed and Slayer-fueled death-thrash in the late 80’s where bands like Morbid Angel (as in ‘Abominations of Desolation‘ era) pushed a certain limit we’ll more commonly observe via Necrovore‘s tape in hindsight. If you are familiar with demo tapes like Sadistic Intent‘s barreling ‘Conflict Within‘ and the more congested, active stuff on Mortem‘s venomous ‘Evildead‘ that was at least nearby the expectation set by the demo’s four pieces, barbaric and thrashing acts of ‘old school’ death metal.

This full-length changes things up to a certain degree with six new original pieces that are no less related to the aforementioned timeline offered on ‘After Winter Comes War‘ and its appreciation for the phenomenon of late 80’s death metal but here Abhorration‘s evolution has a rabidity to it that invokes the earliest work from Angelcorpse but with the memorable riffcraft of ‘Altars of Madness‘ as the actual skeleton of their approach. There’ll be no denying these references throughout the full spin and no, you’re not a genius for figuring that shit out within a couple of songs. The aim of ‘Demonolatry‘ is clear enough but no less exciting for being easily read, this is a riff record that has songs which stick in mind and bear the psychotic, morbid grime of ancient thrashing death metal. This should be thrill enough for folks who are not at all concerned with how original their work might appear at face value.

With frantically barked cadence, blister-fed down tunneling late 80’s hammer pace Garathun‘s vocals start out matching the wrathful phrasing of the main riff that opens “Chamber of Agilarept”, introducing steadier winding grooves via the finesse of Kvam‘s drumming. The production values here allow plenty of room for the drums to flex into complex tom-rolling fills, space for big crash energy and smaller details which surround a perfectly tuned relationship between the kick and snare per classic death metal needs. Though we begin with all thrusters engaged at a wrist-aching pace the fact that the render of the throne can handle both double-bass plowed intensity and single kicked skank thrashed push is impressive up front. As the song oozes out into its second half expectations are more clearly set in terms of a referential sound engaged in hyper-detailed work set to blazing speed but, I think it’d been maybe two and a half minutes before I was already on board with ‘Demonolatry‘.

If you hadn’t fully gotten it by then consider “Ai Apaec” and its “Chapel of Ghouls”-levelled breakdown a clear indication of the time, place and dynamic Abhorration are using as their primary music and while this isn’t the first time I’ve come across a band concerned with this spectrum of death metal these folks have their work ironed out in terms of sensical flow between every element, riff after riff. I will admit that the closer attention I paid to each song on ‘Demonolatry‘ certain songs, or just movements did begin to sound like a greatest riffs medley from 80’s Morbid Angel so, keep in mind my own taste and bias appreciates these variations a great deal and would never tire of those familiar grinding and thrashing grooves. At some point around the hypnotic ranting and thrashed-through haul of “Invoke Them” your mind should relent, give in to the relentless blender of riffs you’ve been assaulted with and enjoy the ride.

“The Grace of Immolation” is technically a point of rest, a slower built song that rolls easiest into its trampling movement with simple variations on a main riff within ever-shifting tempo, a classic sort of dance forgotten to modern death metal which has a tormented effect. This is enhanced by a few keyboard hits, an uptick in speed and warbling lava-bound soloing that escalates in erratic step whenever picked up. I’d particularly loved the infernal marching-paced step out into the final third of the song and generally found the piece as a whole vital to curbing the circuitous flood-path of the full listen toward a steadier handed finale. The title track, “Demonolatry” being that finale and carrying its own “Invocation of the Continual One”-esque effect through ’til the end; As each song rips past the referential nature of the band is the only real hiccup I could come up with as a potential criticism or detractor for the average listener.

A heightened level of familiarity exaggerates and arranges parts of songs which are very, very closely related to one of my all-time favorite albums. Though this is just one part of the whole experience (re: Death “Forgotten Past” inspired verse riffs on “Spawn of an Abhorrent Entity”) it is persistent and I figure that will bother folks who don’t want those inspirations worn on sleeve. That said I’ve been entirely consistent on this subject for years in the sense that it will ultimately get hundreds of listens out of me for the quality of said approach rather than the references themselves. The thread which Abhorration represent themselves here is undeniably memorable, fastidiously sewn together and performed to a high standard and (again) to the point that bringing about a certain quality level with auld traditions in mind overtakes any sense of originality being a major issue. In that sense ‘Demonolatry‘ is kinda pleasure listening on some level, an insanely tight flood of peak 80’s death metal classicism which I think most ‘old school’ death metal fans will enjoy. A very high recommendation.

---