Band:	Abramelin
Album:	Deadspeak
Style:	Death metal
Release date:	2000
Guest review by:	qlacs

01. Pleasures
02. Your Casualty
03. Waste
04. Bleeding Hearts
05. The Germ Factory
06. Flesh Furnace
07. Plague

It seems like it's a real privilege in the swarm of metal bands to be able to play proper old-school death metal. Here's a talent that has been unfairly overlooked ever since its existence: the group called Abramelin, hailing from Australia. Actually they broke up a good 12 years ago, but they managed to put this last album out before vanishing from the sight of sullen eyes.

I know that many people are keen on the old Florida-style death metal, which seems pretty dried out nowadays. Abramelin is trying to balance between the Swedish lineage and the Florida godfathers. Deadspeak undoubtedly sounds a lot like Scandinavian, though sometimes a lot less brutal, even falling too melodic sometimes. The mixing of the record also suggests melodic death vibes, but luckily this was not taken to an extreme generic level, so we can have a (mostly) clear bass sound that keeps us remembering about the fact that this is not coming from Sweden.

You can't encounter too many original ideas upon first listening, but this kind of balance with brutality, breakdowns and melodic interludes is a working recipe, that might leave a mark after the initial hearing.

There are no real highlights, but if I'd be forced I may put the opener "Pleasures" or "Flesh Furnace" out there. The last song, called "Plague", is also an interesting one, working with acoustics and it's very well written.

It for sure won't grow to be the lifelong album you listen to every day, but it can add a nice spice to your death metal collection.