User:Holy George/sandbox

Abysmal was a Death Metal /Thrash band hailing from Miami, Florida in 1992. The band was made of of guitarist Todd Sleppy (ex-Monstrosity- part of the early line up of this band), guitarist Carlos Giusti and vocalist George Stewart (He used other names such as Abysmal Lord and later, Holy George.) George Stewart's "Holy George" moniker was given to him by Dr. Fukk (Thrash or Die). The name originated from a cassette tape from California thrash band, Holy Terror. Stewart had written his name as "Holy George" as a joke on the back of the cassette. Other nicknames for Sleppy was "Old Crow" and Giusti was called "Signore Giusti"and "Il Mussolinni".

Abysmal's first demo entitled "Surrealistic Fatality" was released in 1992 as well. The demo was influenced by late 1980's thrash and, the then embryonic consolidation of Death Metal like many bands of that time period. Abysmal relied on cassette tape trading and did exchange their demo with bands from the U.S., Europe and Asia to make the band noticeable.

Initially, Abysmal's first demo was released with a different cover and track list which was made up of seven tracks (4 or which had been recorded in a separate session with different musicians prior to the forming of Abysmal.) Changes were made and the band recorded two more tracks and a 5 tracks demo was completed therefore, eliminating those four tracks that had no participation from both Giusti and Holy George. Todd Sleppy did not want to continue with the band early in 1993 and Carlos Giusti followed shortly thereafter. Vocalist Holy George attempted to continue with the band but, it proved more difficult than expected as the band's new members had their gear stolen from their rehearsal space, This brought Abysmal came to a halt for the next 13 years. Holy George joined the Military after the final band attempt to keep it ongoing was completed without success.

In 2005, the original line-up returned to work together and another demo, "On Edge with the Vessel of the Sodomite" which was not released but did appear in the demo compilation LP "Demo(n)s in 2012. After the completion of the songs, the band once again folded. Upon the pressing of the LP, 3 additional tracks were added: One from a side project called Lesbian Prison Camp (with member of Finnish band, Mistralth, was not performed, written or recorded by neither Giusti or Sleppy. Vocals were done by Holy George and all instruments by Juha Sarkkonen) plus a Venom cover of "In league with Satan" and another of punk band, The Feederz's "Jesus entering from the rear". It was a limited pressing of 250 hand numbered copies.

In 2013, both George Stewart and Carlos Giusti, took vocals and guitar duties in a Mercyful Fate tribute band named Lufycrem Etaf. This band put out one lp release entitled "Don't Fuck with the Oath" featuring additional vocals by Ralph Viera (also known by his handle name, Dr. Fukk) from Miami band Thrash or Die and backing vocals by Paolo from Made of Metal, also based from Miami. Following the Lufycrem Etaf release, Hellwitch member, JP Brown, entered Abysmal and was part of Abysmal's 2014 release entitled "Carbonized." Carlos Giusti temporarily joined Abysmal for newer song recordings. This would also be the final recording featuring Giusti.

In 2016, a double set cd entitled "Of vultures and vermin" was released with two new studio tracks. 4 tracks were originally recorded but, only two were chosen to be in the CD. Abysmal's demo was initially going to be named "Knights in Satan's Service" (the name of the demo was a allegory to people who in the 1970's would say that Kiss (band) were of a Satanic nature and thus, named so). In the end the title was not used but it remains the original name for the newer tracks released for the CD but not mentioned in it. For the recording of the demo, guitars were handled by Ralf Varela (from Miami Death Metal band Koroidia, e-x Hibernus Mortis), Alex Marquez (Solstice, Thrash or Die, Malevolent Creation and Demolition Hammer among others) handled bass tracks and drums. The recording and mixing of the track was done by Dennis Munoz (Solstice).

The CD set was released in December of 2016. There were also several bands which were hand picked for the release; these bands were all hailing from the United States, with the exception of one band from England.

Abysmal was dissolved permanently in 2017.

Todd Sleppy passed away on July 14th, 2018.