Studio Report: Abhorrence

Our macabre prayers have been answered: Finnish death metal eidolons Abhorrence took over Amorphis drummer Jan Rechberger’s Moon Unit studio to record a new EP. “It’s the original lineup from 1990,” according to guitarist Tomi Koivusaari. “Kalle Mattsson on guitar, Juice Ahlroth on bass, Jukka Kolehmainen on growls . . . Plus new drummer, Waltteri Väyrynen (Paradise Lost, Vallenfyre).”

Koivusaari relates how the new material came as a result of jamming again for an Abhorrence reunion show in 2013, at Tuska Open Air: “When the live album finally came out … we decided to play few gigs to support its release, it was kind of weird to play the same old tracks all over again. We had some song ideas waiting to be worked on, so it was basically just getting into gear and doing it. And if you are making new material, why not record it[?]”

Titled Megalohydrothalassophobic, Koivusaari explains that the new EP’s title “relates to the fear of massive objects underwater . . . The lyrics combine the mythological figure of H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu with themes from the ecological philosophy of Timothy Morton. Morton is arguably the most important thinker of the anthropocene, the current catastrophical era of human existence. The EP tells a horror story of our age. The music itself we wanted to keep at the primitive level.”

What brought you all back together again and made you want to release new material?

Ever since we played those first reunion shows for the compilation album in 2013, it felt great to play together and we never really quit after that. When the live album finally came out and we decided to play few gigs to support its release, it was kind of weird to play the same old tracks all over again. We had some song ideas waiting to be worked on, so it was basically just getting into gear and doing it. And if you are making new material, why not record it.

We chose Mr. Rechberger’s (who also happens to be Amorphis’ drummer) studio, the Moon Unit, because why the hell not! He is old friend for the whole band and seemed to want to do it, so we went with him and we’re happy with the decision. He understands what were trying to accomplish and it doesn’t hurt that he knew our original material from 1990 too. So Snoopy is doing the recording and mixing as well.

How’s the writing/recording process been so far?

Quite laid back. Some of the guys haven’t been in studio for a decade or two, but no one panicked and everything was done in a reasonably timely manner. As far as writing and arranging goes, it was quite familiar feeling to work with these guys, we went with the same methods as back in the day and sat down in the rehearsal room to get the tunes done. Some of the songs came out super effortlessly, needing only single session. The biggest challenge when making new stuff was to trying to think as 16 year old kids as we were back then and still having new visions as well, we wanted it to make honour to our past and still same time have something fresh and new to offer, reason to make this. It turned out to be very natural.

Are these all new songs, or are some of them yet-to-be unearthed tracks from the early 90s?

All new songs. There were few tracks that we didn’t properly record back then, which are on the compilation album tho, so we decided to start fresh and make all new music.

What can those of us who worship your existing material expect from this new record?

In a word, it’s brutal. It’s impossible to not have the time show in one way or other, but it definitely sounds like Abhorrence and it is heavy as hell. It’s still old school and it’s still Finnish Death Metal.  The lyrics combine the mythological figure of Cthulhu from the works of H. P. Lovecraft with themes from the ecological philosophy of Timothy Morton. Morton is arguably the most important thinker of the anthropocene, the current catastrophical era of human existence. The EP tells a horror story of our age. The music itself we wanted to keep in kind of primitive level.

When is the expected release date?

Svart Records is looking to put it out late summer or early fall, no exact dates are published as of yet.