Surreality

Afterlife | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 31, 1993)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Alma Records
• ASIN: B000008CQC
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #270,045 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars HIGHLY UNDERRATED ...KILLER DEATH METAL, November 14, 2006

By 

Death Metal90 - See all my reviews

This review is from: Surreality (Audio CD)

Afterlife is one hell of a band. I have been listening to this kind of music since 1991 and I have managed to check out just about every band on the Grind core and JL America labels. Afterlife's Surreality is on album I missed and when I finally got my hands on it a few years ago I kicked myself in the head for not buying it. This band plays thrashy, semi-technical old-school Deathmetal with plenty of interesting brutal riffs, solid drumming and brutal low/raspy vocals. The first track reminded me allot of Dehydrated from Pestilence. Being the Pestilence fanatic Ive always been I instantly heard the Pestilence influence in Afterlife's songwriting and style. But this band is original, the bass player is amazing and performs some excellent bass solos in some of the songs. The profuction is excellent for this style of Deathmetal. The guitar has a crunchy, dirty thick sound that makes you want to grind your teeth and rub snadpaper accross your face. If you like Pestilence, Death, Cancer, Oppressor and Viogression, Afterlife - Surreality will impress the hell out of you. Pick it up and see what I mean

5.0 out of 5 stars Reality, July 16, 2011

By 

Bob and friends.... - See all my reviews

This review is from: Surreality (Audio CD)

The metal gods have neglected to mention a good band (afterlife), on that note not only has the metal scene
backed away, and faded. Yet, it seems to not drift and die. An Islander like me from Guam, that craves, the
gutless, hurling, and menacing attributes of good listening. I say to those that impose, they may not be
Metallica, but they can surely crush, the cause.

I encountered this CD while hitting up the local music store, which is phased out anyways. My wife and I
were taking that night to stroll, and I find this CD, hiding in the back, of some other unknown metal/punk
band. Low and behold, I read the back, not knowing who they are, and what type of style they play, but I
purchase it anyways cause the band name sounded bad ass. I get home, slap it on the player, and the intro
just blows it out the window. There on, it just gets even better. Everywhere I went, this CD was with me.
Even when I joined the Armed Forces, and while I was deployed in Iraq. My buddies never heard of them, and
I never heard the other bands they were fronting me.
However, this is a band to listen to, metal is everywhere, and for those, and some. There's more to them,
and they didn't sell out.

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, underrated Hoosier death metal, February 8, 2009

By 

Tom P. the Underground Navigator (Park Forest, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Surreality (Audio CD)

By 1993, the traditional death metal scene had started to die out in popularity due to a glut of largely unoriginal, faceless acts flooding the market with mostly generic sounding output and the rise at the time of black metal in the underground.

I got out of the scene for a few years myself starting in about 1996 (when I really got more into old punk) and sadly ended up parting with the bulk of my at the time massive collection. Now that I've since gotten back into it and in a big way, I could shoot myself in the foot for some of the excellent releases I got rid of.

I was 18 in 1993 when Afterlife's "Surreality" came out and I remember hearing "Eve of Eclipse" on college radio and it really stood out to me as a raw, brutal death metal onslaught. Afterlife were among the bands keeping the sound alive when many fans were jumping ship. But interests change and can you believe "Surreality" was one of the releases that didn't survive the cut as far as the death metal CDs I ultimately held onto? Man, what a mistake!

That's why a few years ago, getting back into the sound and gripped with nostalgia fever, I started buying back much of my collection and I luckily found a copy of "Surreality" here on Amazon. It was like unearthing a buried treasure and being reunited with a long-lost friend.

The band hailed from the Elkhart, Indiana area and were kind of like an extension of the Chicago scene (one of the guys sports a Cianide shirt in the CD's band photo) -- the album was recorded at Illinois' Solid Sound Studios and the production of Martti Payne (of the band's label Olympic Recordings) is excellent, boasting a crisp tone that is very fluid and in your face.

The music is fast and brutal and at the same time quite catchy and original. They took some influence from bands of the time such as Cannibal Corpse and Suffocation, but the more technical guitar patterns make these guys stand out. The best tracks include the title track, the aforementioned "Eve of Eclipse," and closer "Dead Lights Glare" which has some very catchy, memorable riffing going on.

As a final note, the same Chicago college radio station where I first heard the band (WXAV 88.3 FM) had them as in-studio guests at one point and I called in and actually got to talk to vocalist Paul Ritchings and he came off as a very genuine, likeable guy.

Coming out at a more challenged time for death metal, this release did not get the fanfare it deserved but I love it and promise to never part with it again. Highly recommended to fans of vintage early '90s death metal.