Like precursors
Venom and
Hellhammer and successors
Darkthrone and their ilk,
Messiah fall into the "less-is-more" category of
heavy metal. One listen to their 1986 debut
Hymn to Abramelin reveals the production to be nearly non-existent, the songwriting at times underdone, the musicianship often sketchy (the drummer can't really keep time, but otherwise he's great!), but the end result to be ultimately brilliant! Yes, it's all very contradictory, but welcome to wacky world of mid-'80s European underground
metal, where crude visionaries like
Destruction, the aforementioned
Hellhammer and, yes,
Messiah, all merit thrones as prone to worship by the
heavy metal faithful as those of far more commercially successful bands like
Kreator,
Celtic Frost, and
Mercyful Fate. In effect,
Hymn to Abramelin earned such distinction because of its simplicity -- by showing the kids that
metal, like
punk, could be performed with more heart than technical expertise. Propagating the white-knuckled aggression and anti-social, often Satanic lyrics typically attractive to
heavy metal fans didn't hurt, either, and
Messiah exploit that formula to the max on highlights including the instrumental title track and vicious thrashings like
"Messiah," "Space Invaders," and
"Total Maniac" -- many of which are introduced by perfectly apropos zombie-like, baritone recitations of demonic intent. Another favorite,
"Thrashing Madness" is just that: two-and-a-half-minutes of frenetic instrumental flailing punctuated by horrid shrieks of despair; closing epic
"The Dentist" finally breaks with the ultra-simple template to entertain some surprisingly inventive and complex riff orchestrations; and, among the various bonus tracks present on most CD re-issues,
"Speed Fight" offers a furiously extended good time to go along with the remaining rough but entertaining demos. No surprise, then, that
Hymn to Abramelin remains a favorite example of its kind to serious
metal fans. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia
