If you believe everything you hear about Abruptum, then they were the audial essence of pure evil, they were made up of two shadowy figures (one of them a dwarf simply called "It"), they improvised their recordings, and the vocals were done while they mutilated themselves. Evil Genius is a compilation of the band's earliest works. This excellent comp contains their Hexum Galaem Zelog and Satanist Tunes demos, as well as the Evil 7" EP. Play this very loud with the lights off, then destroy yourself.
When I bought this disc back in the day they included a razor blade in the packaging, with the instructions, 'kill yourself'. I totally drank the kool-aid with the whole Abruptum mythology, but we live in an unfair world where E.T. is really just a little man in a rubber suit, and IT is just a wacky dwarf in corpsepaint. Abruptum still rules though.
ReplyDeleteIT is a total bro.
ReplyDeleteGod, I fucking love Abruptum.
ReplyDeleteIT also formed the amazingly weird black metal band Ophthalamia in the early 90's. They fuse equal parts Mayhem, proto-folk metal, and some fucked up psychedelic jazz.
ReplyDeleteVia Dolorosa and A Long Journey are their two best albums.
And judging from the picture in the liner notes, IT seems to be a regular sized Swede.
Oh, yeah. Read about these guys in "Lords of Chaos". Razor in the packaging? That is amazing.
ReplyDeleteLove the Abruptum post but I wanted to pass you this link because I know you dig Hanatrash. Enjoy:
ReplyDeletehttp://nonotfunnotno.blogspot.com/2008/12/hanatarash-we-are-hardcore.html
Thanks, Sean.
ReplyDelete"And judging from the picture in the liner notes, IT seems to be a regular sized Swede."
ReplyDeleteHe was probably standing on a crate.
G.G. Allin had an LP in the late 80s or very early 90s that included a razor intended for the listener's demise, which I think predates the Abruptum move. Vond did it too, probably about the same time Abruptum did.
ReplyDeleteA great number of bands had that idea actually. Over the last 20 years I have owned several releases with razors. One demo, from a band from Richmond Va. actually suceeded in cutting the shit out of me when I tried to open it. Germ Flux, I think?
ReplyDeleteAesop, thank you! This is really fucking sick. In all those good ways.
ReplyDeleteeverything that shit "bands" like Striborg want to be and never can.
ReplyDeletetruly fucked up...
Yay, early Abruptum, been looking for this.
ReplyDeleteThis is great, it scared the liveing shit out of my dog when i put it on this morning. That dwarf can scream.
ReplyDeleteI don´t think they mutilated each other, it´s probably another black metal myth from the early ninethies to aquire some mysterious and kvlt aura. But the music from Abruptum is still one of the most intense throughout the whole metal scene. The only recent band for me which reached such intense depths is Axis of Perdition, highly recommended!
ReplyDeletemyspace.com/theaxisofperdition
IT is 161 cm according to his passport. He's half indian, half Finnish (romani/gypsy). That might clear things up a bit.
ReplyDeleteIt's kind of like if the devil fronted the Swans back in the day instead of M. Gira. I remember my Dystopia/Grief split coming with a razor blade.
ReplyDeleteWow, haven't listened to this in a really long time. Scared the hell out of me the first time I heard Abruptum, so it made its point. It kind of fell apart on the later releases when Morgan Håkansson went on with it as a solo project after IT left. Someone mentioned IT's Opthalamia, Via Dolorosa is a great album, completely different from anything else from that era.
ReplyDeletei had that Abruptum 7 inch,EVIL that was on some american label from pennsylvania
ReplyDeletei sold it at rasputin in sf for some dumb amount cuz me and my gf were all broke,i ran into ross sewage on market and showed him the stack of lp's i had and he wasnt all impressed or anything
we wound up just buyin beer and cigs anyways
pssshh..
It takes alot to impress Mr. Sewage. Guy is about as jaded and cynical as they come.
ReplyDelete