Beats and yelling: Absu

The Temples of Offal/Return of the Ancients
Out 10^th June on ATMF (originally released in 1991)

One often forgets that – along with the likes of Massacre and Napalm Death- Absu were another Trigger’s broom band. (That’s bands whose latest incarnation features none of their original members for any none UK readers). But with this latest issue of Absu’s first era we are presented with a stark reminder of how quickly many bands were dropping death metal in favour of a new direction around 1991-92, here nurtured by original members Equitant and Shaftiel along with then drummer Danny Benbow. This reissue remasters the original Absu demos, ‘Return of the Ancients’ and ‘The Temples of Offal’, along with studio rehearsals, essentially presenting several different versions of the same tracks for anyone desirous to peruse this material from multiple angles. Its utility will be limited to Absu obsessives and, as the scenes most significant act throughout the 90s, USBM scholars. As well as perhaps revising the status of Absu’s 1993 debut ‘Barathrum: V.I.T.R.I.O.L.’ as a transitional album between the pre-1992 death metal incarnation and the flamboyantly mythical black thrash helmed by Proscriptor that followed this earlier incarnation.

That being said, despite there being only six distinct tracks presented in different guises across this compilation, it paints a picture of a Texan death metal entity that could well have travelled a different path even before one Proscriptor McGovern rocked up with his eight arms and a document dump of Sumerian law. Early Absu, much like Thou Shalt Suffer, were a creepy prospect. Far darker than the freshly pressed suits working their way out of Tampa at the time. But unlike their European opposite numbers who were also about cross the border into black metal by 1992, Absu seemed far more comfortable in their death metal clothes, something easily explainable by just how far removed they were from any potential kindred spirits across the pond and due North.

There is a percussive activism at work beneath the waves of this music reminiscent of Morpheus Descends. But it finds itself frontloaded by a malevolently brooding energy that immediately sets it apart despite the limited material on offer here, and maybe brings it closer to something like Seattle’s Infester for the uncanny atmospheric currents it pours forth. Part doom metal, part macabre occult metal, it upgrades meat ‘n’ potatoes death metal with an additional flair. Prima facie violent, energetic, and purposeful, but caveated by an unconditional gloom that permeates every bar of the music.

The first half of this compilation featuring the original demo mixes gives us the clearest view of this material. There is a cloying, grounded atmosphere that is anathema to the soaring proselytising Absu would later indulge in. The former bubbles up from the dirt itself, the latter gestures ambitiously to the sky. And whilst we only get hints of the earthy charm of the death metal iteration of Absu, scrutinising its output opens up one of the many what-ifs in metal’s history.

But it’s a what-if that may be limited to a subset within a subset, namely curious Absu fans. The material read at face value, despite the explicitly creepy demeanour, would struggle to register amongst the countless other unearthed or reissued demos from the so called old school era, were it not attached to such an infamous name. An enjoyable romp of characterful death metal that may fail to spark a reaction outside of academic interest.