Belgium’s Aborted are a band that certainly stick out from the crowd, they have become pretty much the definition of a revolving door line-up, with a huge roster of former members behind them, but they have managed to keep their individuality despite this by way of the vocalist Sven de Caluwé who is not only the founder but also the only constant member of the band.
Sven’s voice is truly individual within the scene with his signature high and low pitch deliveries that really sound like no one else, and love his style or hate it, he makes it obvious within seconds that no matter how many different members come through the band you are still listening to Aborted.
In the past however this constant changing of members has caused quality issues within the band, since 2003’s brilliant offering “Goremageddon: The Saw and the Carnage Done” I have found their output a little hit and miss, always capable of delivering some great songs but I found the albums themselves a little inconsistent.
However in 2012 they delivered the crushing “Global Flatline” which I personally viewed as a brilliant return to form for the band. Two years later and they are back to deliver the follow up “The Necrotic Manifesto” which features a new line-up yet again in the form of two new guitarists, so I was wondering was the last album a fluke or can they deliver yet another brilliant album, thankfully the answer is hell yes they can.
After an opening track of old school horror movie homage, a sample of pinhead cuts through with the statement “I am Pain” and then bang, the first proper track comes charging at you like a rabid honey badger on pcp, with a horrible screeching discordant riff before dropping straight into some classic aborted grooves and blasts.
Its immediately apparent that with this album they mean business, battering you with riff after riff each delivered with clinical precision, and the production matches this perfectly making everything sound tight and powerful throughout, and the drastic increase in quality and technical proficiency of the guitar solos is certainly welcome as well.
So as far as performance and musicianship is concerned, I would say that this is the most focused and vital Aborted have ever sounded and the song writing and diversity is a cut above anything they have done before. With the classic Aborted formula the fans know and love, but also some much broader and atmospheric moments than they have achieved before, and one particular serving of pure old school carcass worship (Ironic since their former drummer is now playing for Carcass).
There are a couple of minor issues however, firstly the production (which I love) whilst brilliant might be a bit too clean and processed sounding for some people and the jaded among the death metal crowd will probably throw the “Deathcore” label at it which is unfortunate because it is really so much more than that. Also I found some of the movie samples don’t always hit the mark as well as they did on previous albums and I can see this being a practice they will phase out over future releases. But these really are very minor gripes in what is otherwise by far Aborted’s finest release to date in my opinion.
So if you’re a fan of Aborted then you know what to expect, and this delivers exactly what you want to hear but takes the formula and cranks it up to a new level of brutality and quality. A bold and brutal statement that aims straight for the throat of any voices of doubt and crushes their windpipe with a single precise strike. I can see a lot of death metal fans listing this among their favourite albums of 2014 and with good reason.
(9/10 Mark Gleed)
01/05/2014 at 8:55 am
Good band. Sorry to hear that their sound has moved towards cleanliness. As for Deathcore accusations, they pre-date all that. I remember once treating a colleague to “Goremageddon: the Saw and the Carnage Done” on night shift. His comment was “I don’t really want to be listening to this at four o’clock in the morning”. So I offered to play it at midnight the following day instead. He didn’t turn up, but I still played it.