After Paramaecium's debut release of Exhumed of the Earth, doom metal fans were in a frenzy over who in the heck this new band was and where did they come from? Even today, many people consider that album a classic doom metal album. After the release of Within the Ancient Forest, and even before, fans were wondering what, if anything, the band had recorded before Exhumed... Well, the band had recorded a demo called Silent Carnage. However, the quality wasn't half as good as the quality on Exhumed..., and the lineup was also much different at that time. The band however, must have heard the cries of fans and decided to release this limited edition EP called Repentance.
This disc contains the entire Silent Carnage demo, with the tracks: 1. "Sogno di Morte", 2. "Silent Carnage", 3. "Dead to Death", and 4. "Abstraction". They also re-recorded "Silent Carnage" and "Dead to Death" in 1994 with their Within the Ancient Forest lineup so fans could see what their old songs sounded like with better production and a more talented lineup, which included the famous Jayson Sherlock on drums.
The newly recorded songs don't have production as good as their regular releases, but it far surpasses the muddy production on the Silent Carnage demo, so when you listen to this EP you will notice the drastic difference. The two newer songs have a thick, death metal feel to them. This material is somewhat faster than what you've heard on their regular doom-styled releases. The sound is just as brutal though, and Andrew Tompkins' gutteral death vocals sound fantastic. This guy has a great death metal voice.
The demo songs are really a big letdown compared to everything else this band has recorded. They are not bad songs, but the production and playing just doesn't reach the high quality level the band is known for. It's kinda cool to hear where the band came from, but it's not something you want to revisit too many times.
The best songs are easily the newly recorded versions of "Silent Carnage" and "Dead to Death". This release is worth picking up if just to hear these songs. The worst song is easily "Abstraction" with it's horrible distorted vocals to start the song. It gets better, but not enough to keep this from being skip material.
The cover artwork is cool and the back cover has early and current (at the time of this recording) pictures of the band. There are lyrics inside and they are great if you like the gory, death metal lyric style. Example: "Scraping bodies out of the gutter/Rotting corpses piled on each other/Infesting plagues defiled the land/Sole rectification through sacrificed Son of Man/Foul stench fills the street/Silent Carnage, rotting meat."
Anyways...for hardcore Paramaecium fans, this would be a cool album to pick up. I actually found this rare and out of print album on Ebay for a fairly reasonable price. For those who've yet to hear Paramaecium before...start with Exhumed of the Earth. (Review by Matt)
