Formed in early 2020 in Oslo, Norway's ABHORRATION featured members hailing from such bands as Condor, Nekromantheon, Hecatomb, Resonaut, Purple Hill Witch, and Obliteration. While one could reasonably expect what sound might result from such a conglomeration, the power-trio's first public recording, 2021's After Winter Comes War EP, aimed for an olde-world Metal of Death that abounded with a refreshing sense of the "new." Now, ABHORRATION are prepared to go deeper into the olde vs. "new" with their first full-length. Simply and elegantly titled Demonolatry, ABHORRATION's debut album immediately sets forth the same foundation as its short-length predecessor, invoking and rearranging trace elements of classic Sadistic Intent, Morbid Angel, Possessed, and early Vader into something uniquely labyrinthine. But the execution here is impossibly sharper and, frankly, blanching: you literally FEEL each note and drum hit as the quartet bleed for the Devil before their own altars of madness. That the production's suitably rough 'n' raw but clear(ly analog) ably benefits the band's bursting-at-the-seams attack, which also sees an infusion of Vomitor-esque solo-squall. If one difference is to be made to After Winter Comes War, save for the slow-burn stomp of "The Grace of Immolation," it's that Demonolatry excises anything haunting in favor of an equally epic but far-more-coiling style of songwriting that's always moving, moving, MOVING. The wicked angularity of prime Axis of Advance is still in there, but ABHORRATION leave no breath for pause; an inexorable descent into oblivion is sought, and achieved - quickly. Will you be able to keep up? AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!
