Description

Split album featuring two crushing Swedish death metal demos and some bonus live material

Embryo
Formed in 1989 the group was first called Tantalize, only one live show was played under that name. After some line-up changes the band took the name Embryo. With influences by groups such as Kreator, Slayer, Death, Sepultura and Bathory plus everything they could get on obscure, bad sounding cassette tapes. As the members had been growing up listening to heavy music this is what Embryo set out to play. They recorded and released one demo tape entitled Damnatory Cacophony. The tape sold pretty well, around 500 copies. The under ground press gave it a mixed bag of criticism; some loved it while others loved to hate it. I wouldnt call the Damnatory Cacophony demo a legendary gem doomed to obscurity, but I it makes a strong case for such. It’s dark, evil, mysterious and horrifying. The quality of riffs varies however. Some are exquisite samples of horror and mayhem, some are a little too simple for their own good. These riffs are where the demo finds its strongest faults. With every great riff though out riff there seems to be one thrown in riff that does nothing for the listener. It’s a shame because most of the other aspects of this demo are of high quality, even the production isn’t bad. It’s still a good little demo, much better than I expected it would be. The vision is there but the riff writing is just not up to par in some places. Embryo folded in late 1992 and the members of the group went their separate ways (Pete Flesh would play with acts like Flesh, Maze of Torment and Deceiver, Odd Larsson would go on to Harmony, Joakim Hasth to Xenofanes and Mattias Borgh to Arcana and Crypt of Kerberos).

Stigmata
Stigmata from Tullinge were one of the countless bands that came from nowhere in the early 90s, made one demo and then disappeared. Their only demo however, Deceived Minds from 1992, were pure death metal and featured Mattias Parkkila from Egypt (Swe) and Peter Eklund of Dark Funeral (Swe).

Track listing:
1. Embryo – Brutality Of Sickness
2. Embryo – Grotesque Life
3. Embryo – Bible Of Hypocrisy
4. Embryo -Lord Of The Dead-live Strangnas 5th of March 1993
5. Embryo -Grotesque Life-live Strangnas 5th of March 1993
6. Embryo -Exmortis-live Strangnas 5th of March 1993
7. Brutality Of Sickness-live Strangnas 5th of March 1993
8. Stigmata – Decieved Minds
9. Stigmata – The Dead End Of Morality
10. Stigmata – Overwhelming Grief