With the scenic cover, scattered band logo, and name "Abjathar" I figured black metal was what to expect. Nothing is wrong with black, but I prefer death and that is why I happened to enjoy this more than expected. "Autumn" gives away the band's location in Europe (Belgium) with a definite Euro-death style (GRAVE, UNLEASHED.) The song is more on the speedy end, but includes a handful of doom breakdowns. "Into the pit" begins the rasp style black vox and musically is best described as old school black. This was actually not very pleasing and I'm thankful this style didn't occur very often. "Confession of guilt" ventures us back into the European style of basic, rooted death. "Nothing undamaged" rips into the doom and I must credit Vincent for da nice guttural flows. "Beware of the black" and "death" continue (and finish) the 6 song demo in death fashion. I appreciated the tape (I'm not sure if this demo comes in CD format yet,) but had a few issues. The production was fair, but could have been better. European death nearly always has some thrashy riffing, but I wanted some more complexity in the guitar dept. The music was raw, but seemed more so because the band may be young rather than actually pursuing a raw style. Overall I did enjoy this fairly well and it will find its way to my player on a respected basis. I await a full length for sure.
"One short sleep past, we awake eternally. And death shall be no more, Death, thou shalt die."
7/10
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