Paramaecium

Item: Repentance
Author: HadeSlayeR

Repentance

(1997)

Reviewed by HadeSlayeR

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Label independentDead Zine2002

death metal doom metal

Consisting of the Silent Carnage demo with 2 songs re-recorded by the Within the Ancient Forest line-up, Repentance doesn't have the type of music that Paramaecium is currently well-known for. This CD is death metal not the doom metal style that Paramaecium is best known for.

Opening the CD is the song "Silent Carnage" the re-recorded version. It sounds more polished than the original version that's coming up later. The double bass can be heard very clearly. If you listen carefully you will realise that the most notable difference is (at least to me) double bass kick, on the original version it is slow and after the deep growl it is double bass all the way. But right now it's the 'now you hear it now you don't' the double bass happens every now and then which would take more skill on the part of the drummer. But this is Jayson Sherlock that you are talking about. The guitars are also higher and cleaner than the original version, but I think mostly because of the production. "Dead To Death" that follows is also a re-recorded version. The repeated riffs at the beginning is shortened and sound a little sluggish and the female spoken part on the original version is taken off. If they will record the same version that was on the original demo that would be really great, it's a great death metal track.

"Sogno Di Morte" is just a collection of very haunting gothic sounding music with female voices humming away. Very good.

"Silent Carnage" the version that was on the original demo is here. Very bad production making it sound a bit muffled. But the sheer brutality cannot be mistaken. "Dead To Death" the opening riffs are played with more zeal this time. The new version sounds a little bit more sluggish mainly because of the doom influence that they have now. The same growl of Andrew Thompkins that I love is here and it's brutal. "Abstraction" the last song off the CD is quite different. No worries, mate. It's still death metal (though it's much slower on some parts here) but the vocals are being distorted using some machine or computer, making it sound like back-masking. Thank God after a while the normal growl comes back. The songs on this CD is not outstanding, not ground breaking. I prefer the sound of the present Paramaecium, but listening to their roots is quite an enjoyment too.

Buy it if you are a great death metal fan. And buy it if you are a Paramaecium fan. Other than that you can skip this if you are looking for goth/doom.