Into the Abyss Demo

More essential than you might think!

Poison was one of the unsung heroes of the 80s Death/Thrash/First Wave Black Metal Underground. They released a bunch of lo-fi demos in the early days, which are incredibly raw and badly recorded. This demo is the only release recorded at a proper studio. Most people think that the 1993 release with the same title as this was the only proper studio full-length album, but they are wrong. That 1993 release is simply a remastered version of this badass album (they were both recorded on the same session), but anyhow, this sounds better than the remastered version (in my opinion), so let's talk about this.

Although it has only four songs, this here is one hell of an influential album (much like Sodom's first EP). Many of the big names from the second wave of Black Metal has mentioned this as an influence, and its not that hard to see why!

As I mentioned earlier, this was recorded on a proper studio, but it still sounds like a Hellhammer demo tape! The production is much better than the previous demos, but it's still very lo-fi, and that's one of the main reasons why this is very special in the story of Black Metal. Like Hellhammer and early Sodom (or even early Bathory), the raw production gives this album a very obscure atmosphere which was a very important feature of Black Metal in those days.

The guitar sound is incredibly reminiscent of the first Tormentor demo tape (with less solos of course!), the overall tone is very thick and heavy, and the riffs are incredibly catchy and thrashy.

The bass sound is incredibly haunting (especially on the second song - by the way, about the second song; this song is very similar to early Tormentor, or even early Kreator!).

The vocals are just MAD! Mad I say! Very loose and uncontrolled. You often hear mad laughter or howling on any of the tracks. It's just fuckin' Black Metal!

Even though all four songs are bangers, my favorite has to be "Alive (Undead)". That riff on it's own deserves a praise!

It's very sad that this band didn't continue, and it's even sadder that people forget about a masterpiece like this! Listen to this at all costs.