Personally, it came as a bit of a surprise to discover that Abaddon Incarnate were releasing a new album. Unaware that they were still going, my last point of contact with the band was 2004’s ‘Dark Crusade’. While an extremely potent disc – produced, like its predecessor ‘Nadir’, by Nasum’s Mieszko Talarczyk – their third effort somehow didn’t drag me fully in. In retrospect, that probably had as much to do with the generic cover art as the fact that the music was gravitating ever further away from AI’s death metal origins – a style evidenced on the debut and, to a lesser extent, the band’s sophomore apex. Ignorant of 2009’s ‘Cascade’, I came into this then with just a vague conception of what to expect, aside from raging aggression of course…
‘Pessimist’ brings the record into being: first with some feedback and cymbals before veering off with a drum roll into grind hell. High/deep vocals courtesy of Bill Whelan and Steve Maher trade jabs; many of the interactions punctuated by terrifying blasts. Meanwhile, the guitars – whose tone is no less than intimidating – cascade down over hefty, throbbing bass to create a chaotic morass. The fact that Abaddon Incarnate is now pure grind quickly establishes itself. On track two, ‘Aborted Genesis’, blast-beats and riffs hack away at the listener though as the band has always had a knack for, subtle shifts in drumming and riffs provide nice variation to their high-octane brutality. In this regard, ‘Warping the Necrospawn’ does a few interesting things – from relentless rhythmic battering to blasting to a desolate, deathly end passage. But make no mistake, virtually every sign of death metal has been expunged from the Irishmen’s sound. Maybe the closest we get is where they slow down on the ominous ‘Fear’, but nah…
While ‘Fear’ (destined to be a great live number) contains some fine explorations of the drum kit and an atmospheric utilisation of the fretboards, it’s not long before the word ‘GRINDCORE’ is similarly hammered onto this composition. And by the time we witness the threatening bass of ‘Impaled Upon Your Zodiac’, it’s very much grind business as usual: d-beat drum patterns give way to furious blasts/needling riffs before veering off into oppressive groove. A sense of violence and extreme aggression permeates just about every facet of the record. While ‘groove’ may not sound deadly in itself, the murky stuff on ‘Morbid Epiphany’ feels as if some lunatic is raining down repeated blows while you hopelessly attempt to wrestle yourself from a peat bog. If such a passage isn’t overtly punishing enough, the same track offers up a jackhammer blasting/solo section which begs the question: just how many limbs does this drummer possess?! Throughout, the dual vocals are a real positive; adding further momentum to the chaos.
‘Funeral Hag’ – one of the best titles in recent years – blisters away with a few more subtle shades, while closer ‘Summoning Famine…’ reiterates one final time just how enraged these fellows are. Overall, Abaddon Incarnate prove here that they are as angry, if not angrier, than ever. In terms of their back catalogue however, I’m still very much a sucker for ‘Nadir’ – which retained elements of their deathly beginnings. As pointed out on numerous occasions, this here is grind. For fanatics of the genre and (I imagine) fans of the band’s ‘Dark Crusade’ material onwards, ‘Pessimist’ will fit the bill and then some.
(8/10 Jamie)
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