From the opening howl of feedback which brings in the first track of the album, “Cocooned Abomination” to the final moments of the closing track which is the title track of the release, “Abattoir Of Slain Deities” , this thirty-two minute slice of brutal death metal, laden with plenty of groove, technical and slam influences can easily be summarized in one word – Intense.
Despite this being the case, one word is simply not enough to convey just what ‘Abattoir Of Slain Deities’ is for a review, so with this being the case, lets expand on it shall we?
Omnipotent Hysteria are a four piece with members hailing from across the country who all have strong links in the UK’s exponentially growing Death Metal movement. With an impressive self titled EP released at the tail end of last year, the band have wasted little time in pushing on for their full length debut release and given the fact all members are determined and dedicated to creating brutal death metal, you can only imagine just how intense this release can be. So on that note, let us see how they kill gods in this slaughter house.
Like earlier on, “Cocooned Abomination” opens with a swelling howl of feedback and from there, it’s a full on siege of brutal death metal. Pummelling drums, deep and sinister bass and buzzing guitars create a huge wall of noise which comes crashing down with a side of guttural vocals, adding that extra edge to the delivery, and this feel persists throughout the release. Tracks like “Ectopic Contagion Vessels”, “Arcane Rites, Prophetic Tomes” and “Obnubilated” blur the lines between brutal and technical death metal, creating a savage hybrid of the two which can best be described as Psycroptic and Katalepsy’s demonic spawn. The precision of the riffs and drum fills is spot on and the intense and heavy as hell edge to the delivery helps it shift between these two stylings with little effort required, a sign of just how good this four piece actually are.
Be it the surging blastbeats in “Cocooned Abomination” with the hectic and frantic feel the guitar and bass create over it, or the extremely intricate riff work in the instrumental “Obnubilated”, everything is delivered with the same precision, creating a real flowing element to the release despite the nature of technical and brutal death metal favouring a more chaotic approach. “Ubiquitous Subversion” is an example of this as it shifts from pseudo-slam sections, laden with brutal sounding riffs into breakneck paced technical onslaught sections whilst maintaining a stable groove throughout it, showing a high degree of musicianship.
Despite this degree of accuracy and control, there is something lacking in the release which is hard to adequately express with words, but the best way to describe it is “a life of its own”. By this, I mean it’s almost clinical, like a controlled environment or a control experiment – everything is within the designated parameters the band have set and it rarely slips through those, showing some signs of being something more than a top quality musical demonstration. However, that being said, given the hugely crushing nature of this album, brutally destroying anything which comes in its path, this sterile feel is also a bonus – it sums up the album perfectly in a sense that it is devoid of life. Instead of that spark in the music, what we have is a relentless, crushing, punishing and heavy as hell sonic assault which lasts for just over half an hour, and the title track which ends the album summing this up. With its huge sound, intricate drum patterns, heavy brutal grooves delivered with surgical precision and a feel about the track which can be compared to the intensity the likes of Obituary, Cannibal Corpse and to an extent, Aborted bring to the table, it’s a wonder how anything could survive in such a suffocating atmosphere filled with hostility and ill intent.
Overall, “Abattoir Of Slain Deities” is an essential death metal release for 2016, boldly claiming its place alongside the likes of Aborted (Retrogore), Katalepsy (Gravenous Hour) and Cryptopsy (The Book Of Suffering – Tome 1) in terms of where it sits in my opinion. Brutal, intense, precise, cold and detached, this is a solid release which has little going against it other than personal preferences and the short length.
(8.5/10 Fraggle)
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