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October 12, 2008 |
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01. Dead Wreckoning
02. Blood Fixing The Bled
03. Gestated Rabidity
04. Hecatomb
05. The Gangrenous Epitaph
06. The Inertia
07. A Cold Logistic Slaughter
08. Threading On Vermillion Deception
09. Voracious Haemoglobinic Syndrome
10. Descend To Extirpation
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Just when you thought it was safe to go back to your stereo...along come Belgium's ABORTED wielding a chainsaw with your name on it! Just kidding. Don't worry, no one's going to disembowel you. Not literally at any rate. However, if it's complete and total sonic evisceration and obliteration you crave, then I daresay you need look no further than the latest slice of rotting cadaver coming your way from these merciless Brussels bashers, namely their latest Death/Gore-Grind (or is it? Hmmm???) masterwerk 'The Archaic Abattoir'.
Now as our faithful readers well know, the Gore-Grind thing isn't usually my preferred Metal trip of choice. I'd generally rather catch a mental flight to Helsinki and check out a CHILDREN OF BODOM show or something. So that said, yeah...I like to think that at the very least I've been honest and up front with you all in regards to what does/doesn't yank my chain as it were. I guess I just don't generally get off on the sight/sound of large, sullen-looking dudes in black pummeling my metaphorical backside with the kind of thunderous, downtuned din normally reserved for a busy construction site, whilst simultaneously bellowing about how much they’d like to mutilate/violate some chick's corpse. Just ain't my thing, man. I like my women alive. That, sight unseen/unheard was exactly what I expected from ABORTED and 'The Archaic Abattoir'. Frankly, I was fully prepared to write the album off and was already mentally composing all kinds of sarcastic bull-shizzle before I even threw it into my CD player.
Boy was I about to eat some crow! The thing is, by the time I was halfway through opening track 'Dead Wreckoning', I couldn't help but realize that all of my preconceived notions of what ABORTED were all about would have to be thrown out the window like so many foul-smelling bedpan contents. Despite my best efforts to be a snobby Metal hipster and find a reason to hate such perceived sonic charnel-house fare, damn it all...I was enjoying it! Furthermore, I was forced to admit that ABORTED were far from your atypical Gore-Grind act as well. There was more than that going on here. Lots more.
To those not in the know, ABORTED (currently featuring Sven De Caluwe/vox, Tace De Cloedt/guitars, Bart Vergaert/guitars, Frederic Vanmassenhove/bass, and Gilles Delecroin/drums) have been paying musical homage to the serial-killing lifestyle since around 1995. They have several albums to their credit including 'The Purity Of Perversion' ('99), 'Engineering The Dead' ('01), and 'Goremageddon' ('03). The band play an original blend of uber-technical, sharp-as-a-razor-across-the-throat, riff-heavy Death/Gore-Grind, with heavy doses of CARCASS thrown surging and grinding into the mix to create quite hooky and engaging melodic leadwork o'ertop of the bottom-end maelstrom that raises the affair heads-and-shoulders above the majority of what many of their peers in this beyond extreme subgenre are currently pumping out.
Vocals too display more variance than is the norm, Caluwe one moment heaving forth the expected lung-boiling gurgle typical of the form only to surprise with the sudden change to a Jeff Walker-like snarl. Further vocal layers are built with the addition of a more aggressively organic approach c/o guest vocalists Bo Summer (ILLDISPOSED), Michael Bogballe (MNEMIC), and Jacob Bredahl (HATESPHERE), who add a vibe one would normally expect to hear from a Metalcore or Gothenburg-style act. And the mix works well! Very well! This is a very tasteful, yet also uncompromisingly brutal and aggressive album. At times I couldn't help but feel as though I were listening to a more downtuned and vicious DARKANE or THE CROWN release.
In fact, to be totally fair, despite the fact that I've been throwing around the label 'Gore-Grind' like it was going out of style, the fact is that the mad scientists in ABORTED easily transcend such narrow stereotyping, offering a fresh and rejuvenating approach to a form I had more or less given up on prior to experiencing 'The Archaic Abattoir'. If these guys are typically 'Gore-Grind' at all, it's only in terms of what seems to be their choice of lyrical grist and what serves as the base template of their sound. The end result of their labours is - again - far more varied, advanced, and - in true pioneering CARCASS-like spirit - forward-thinking than that of other similar-minded acts. Add to this a sterling, crystal-clear production job via Tad Madsen (THE HAUNTED, HEAVEN SHALL BURN) and one is left with one hell of an album!
Fave tracks? Hard to say. There's so much here to sink one's teeth into. Obviously the opening salvo of 'Dead Wreckoning' and 'Blood Fixing The Bled' kick things off at an appropriately furious pace. 'Hecatomb' and 'The Gangrenous Epitaph' contain addictive riffwork and superb leads that ensure repeated listens time and time again. 'Threading On Vermillion Deception' bludgeons relentlessly and 'Descend To Extirpation' ends the slaughter in fine, psychotically grinning form.
Technical yet pummeling. Innovative yet brutal. This is a surprisingly fresh example of thinking man's extremity. I am humbly impressed beyond my initial expectations and look forward to the possibility of seeing this act in an opening slot sometime soon on this side of the pond. Definitely raises the bar for what one thinks of as 'quality' Death Metal or Gore-Grind. CANNIBAL CORPSE, take note!!
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