Copyright © 1993 Absurd
1.Suffering (Intro)
2. Unendlich
3. Ritornell
4. Sadness
5. God's Death (Organ Version)
6. Last Breath (Battle Version)
7. Inquisition
8. Strafe
9. Death Hymn
10. A Fine Day to Die (Outro)
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To hear this band now, one would never understand the hype behind this proficient Oi/metal hybrid, but what made them great in their early years was a lack of proficiency coupled with a deeply romantic soul that made them attempt songs that while instrumentally insufficient (or outright incompetent) stimulated the imagination in the ways for which original black metal was legendary. It's fair to say instrumentally incompetent, and not musically incompetent, because someone taught these lads a fair amount of theory and melody, but they're hampered by clumsy fingers and untrained senses of rhythm. Yet each song is in itself a poem, a vulnerable and yet forceful preference, with a sense of beauty even in its "two-chord" (thanks to Brett Benzie for that description) form. In this the band is representative of humanity itself, these awkward animals struggling for the ability to romanticize life and see its beauties despite being trapped in primitive form; like the geniuses among us, Absurd strives for transcendence more than some tangible and finite attitude like "hate" or "beauty." Both of those occur incidentally, but how can one dislike a band that attempts so ably to plumb the human soul, even if their music makes The Exploited look like a progressive band? The vocalist mutters, hums, howls, shrieks, murmurs and often, full-throatedely and unselfconsciously sings with an eye toward the beauty of human voices raised in melody; similarly, the music has its share of chainsaw riffs and riot romps, but also a series of chords picked as individual notes and partial harmonies like an indie band, mixing beauty and darkness. Every song is distinctive and has a melody and specialized structure; if the guitar riffs are simple, it is in part because unlike most metal, Absurd is primarily vocally-driven and the vocal melody determines structure, where the guitar is accompaniment (in most metal, guitar is the lead instrument). Almost Dada-ist in its mixture of profundity and incompetence, immature in its baring of spirit and hopes without self-conscious justifcation, and truthful in its revelation of the human condition, early Absurd is more realistic than almost all black metal to follow. Luckily, there are more competent versions of many of these songs on other releases, so those who want the best of both worlds can pursue that juncture.
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