Being the vocalist for Amputated, I am of course no stranger to gore soaked brutal death metal, so when a band with a name like “Coathanger Abortion” pops up for review, then it’s safe to say I am the obvious candidate.
These guys have been going since about 2000 if memory serves correctly, and despite not putting out a lot of music, they have still managed to build up a pretty large and loyal following over the years, and listening to this album it’s easy to see why.
From the beginning this album goes straight for the throat and doesn’t really let go for the duration.
If you are a brutal death metal fan then for the most part this album is exactly what you will be expecting, big riffs, blasting drums, disgusting vocals and some big slams, let’s be honest, if you are a fan of this style then you don’t expect surprises, you expect straight up brutality, and on that front these guys more than deliver, and they do so with all the precision and experience you would expect from a band who have been in the game as long as they have, but they do throw in a couple of unexpected sludge sections that have a Crowbar/Eyehategod vibe and are well executed and a welcome change of pace and something I would like to hear them experiment more with on future songs.
The only other thing that did surprise me about this album was the overall themes, with a name like Coathanger Abortion you obviously expect it to be the usual collection of disgustingly comical song titles and horror movie/porno samples, but instead the song titles and vibe overall are more serious than I would have expected, and there is a notable lack of perversion and gore involved (at least compared to what you might expect). That is not a criticism, simply something that surprised me.
My standout for the album has to be the vocals (being a vocalist myself I guess I am a little biased), I get really bored by the amount of albums in this genre I hear that just have the typical pig noise vocals and basically use the vocals as another instrument rather than an actual vocalist, but the vocals on this album have more of a Frank Mullen vibe, which I really like, and helped this stand out from the other countless brutal death albums I have heard this year.
The one criticism I do have that holds it back a little for me is the mix of the album, it’s not that it’s a bad mix, it’s nice and raw but it just doesn’t have quite enough bottom end for me, and sounds like it was done on a pretty tight budget (which I have no doubt it was, brutal death isn’t exactly the highest grossing genre), but that’s not a reflection on the band themselves, as I’m sure these songs live will absolutely crush an audience.
So a welcome return for a now veteran band who I would like to hear more from in the future, but would like the next album a bit sooner than the usual turn around and with a bit more cash behind the production.
(7.5 Mark Gleed)
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