All hail the gods of old! I cry as I read through and research occult material from LaVey to Crowley and beyond. I love it all, it’s fascinating, and a lot of it tends to get rooted in ancient religions such as the Egyptians. That in turn leads into the ancient alien conspiracy theories and then before you know it every one thinks you’re insane. This is but a snapshot of my mind, once a conspiracy hater I’m now a full on lover of the mode of thinking, even if only a morbid curiosity exists for some ideas. Why am I talking about all this though? Well, because of the new Egypt centric Nile, sorry I mean Aborted Fetus record!

So I have a bit of a love hate relationship with this Russian BDM powerhouse. Their place amongst the royalty of the genre shouldn’t be debated and their influence since their formation in 2000 again should not be questioned. However, they have been known to drop the odd shrug worthy record. Just look at their 2018 album The Ancient Spirits Of Decay, it was alright but nothing more. However, 2020 marks the release of the bands seventh full length Pyramids Of Damnation (hence the ramblings). Taking what appears to be some sort of conceptual turn the band unleash this intriguing record through Comatose Music, could the old ways pave new roads for the band?

Assuming the Nile vibe is opener Pharaoh’s Disasters, to be fair I’m pretty into that, Nile are awesome. I will also allow the instrumental nature of the track given the albums epic ideas and output. Earth’s Bloody Punishment is straight out of the gate with huge guttural vocal hooks and striking instrumentation, namely through the riffs. Already there is an elevation in Aborted Fetus’ sound. Honestly what happened! The last record was so standard and this is a real step up, Execution By Toads again goes to give us delightful crushing hooks and knuckle dragging brutality. Getting right into the Egyptian themes is Queen’s Prophecy, the track has an extensive orchestral intro and I’m not even mad, in fact I love it! When we get into the brutality too it just adds something, that shift from traditional Egyptian to all out BDM is a really well executed bit of songwriting that just works. Giving us more delightful hooks is Goddess Of Chaos, more crushing riffs and general guitar thunder makes this a stand out track. The slower portions even retain some sort of Slam element but at their heart are very much rooted in traditional BDM, excellent stuff.

Tomb Of Damnation has a similar thing going on to the intro of Queen’s Prophecy, but this time the whole track is instrumental! That said I dig it. It might be a little pointless for some people but the orchestration really helps me indulge in the ancient nature of this record. Getting back into the Death Metal is Abscesses On My Body, it’s full of massive slabs of barbarity and guttural sickness, in case you forgot how savage this album was. With hammers held high (ancient hammers) Locust Of Death gets underway with some gnarly hooks and further simplistic yet striking riffs, it’s a similar tale too in Fear Of Darkness. In one final instrumental build up we get The Ancient Ritual Of Death, a precursor to Pharaoh Firstborn’s Execution. The latterly mentioned essentially being the closure for the release, and what an ending it is. A complete summing up of the sound projected on this album which is has surely been blessed by the gods.

Well, that’s how you turn things around! I fully commend Aborted Fetus, this is leagues above The Ancient Spirits Of Decay and exactly the kind of album I expect to hear from this band. There are so many points too which add an element of bravery, the instrumentals that actually serve purpose. The more well rounded theme and not to mention the length, Pyramids Of Damnation is over an hour! Almost unheard of for a BDM album, and I wasn’t even bored once! Fantastic stuff, thank you Aborted Fetus for making 2020 a little bit better.

(9/10 George Caley)

https://www.facebook.com/Abortedfetusbrutality

https://comatosemusic.bandcamp.com/album/pyramids-of-damnation