Goreaphobia - Omen of Masochism (1991)

Don't let the name fool ya, this is early '90's U.S. blasphemous death metal at its finest, trills, harmonics, bends and all!

Admittedly, the band name is a bit retarded, especially considering the music is most certainly not of the goregrind variety. Instead, we have a band that easily could have stood alongside the likes of Incantation and Immolation as far as their influence is concerned as well as their flawless interpretation of the darkness of the northeastern section of the U.S., instead, they managed only to languish in obscurity for well over a decade until a brief reformation allowed them to submit a duo of lackluster full lengths.

This, my friends, is where it's at! I have many fond memories of listening to this back in the early '90's with the Winter winds blowing wildly amidst the haunted New England landscape. The first two tracks are reminiscent of the band's 'Morbidious Pathology' -ep- released by the infamous Seraphic Decay label back in 1990. They have the same thrashy quality that is not unlike 'Altars of Madness' or even early Suffocation. That sort of "transitional" style that bridged the more progressive riffing of thrash with the then new and abrasive sounds of early death metal. The third track, 'Conqueror of Thorns', is real priceless gem here and pretty much the only song like this Goreaphobia ever recorded. Laden with Immolation-esque string bends and trills, almost the entire song is smothered by a blackened aesthetic that works beyond imagining. I wish that the band had not broken up and had stayed the course following this direction as this is one of the greatest and most evil sounding songs I've experienced yet. I remember at the time a friend of mine interviewing the band for his fanzine and one of them mentioning a full length that was to be released (this would have been sometime in '92.), alas, this was to never be and by the time they had released a full length the band's style had pretty much shifted as far from the technique found on 'Conqueror...' as it could get. Bummer.

As it is, early Goreaphobia is where it's at and they have long since earned their place amidst the pantheon of evil death metal bands that haunted the northeastern landscape back in the late '80's/early '90's.