Aborted "Goremageddon: The Saw and the Carnage Done" CD
[Listenable]
I picked this up after reading all the hype about it, having never heard much from the band before, and sure enough, this is pretty fucking good stuff. Brutal death metal from Belgium with a good sense of sparse melody, great songwriting, and more than enough gore to go around. I really like the vocals, too. Tending towards the higher snarling range there are some nice midrange/lower spectrum growls as well, and when they layer the vocals the throaty grittiness is really quite admirable. One of the best things about this record is the fact that there are an abundance of sweet melodic solos that when combined with slower and catchier rhythms are somewhat reminiscent of "Heartwork" era Carcass, but more simplistic. But simplicity doesn't do anything to take away from their power, that's for sure. There's good mix of tempos here, displaying flat out brutal death metal riffing and slightly more creative decisions that are a little bit dissonant and not as fast - just check out the crushing breakdown in "Sanguine Verses (...of Extirpation)"! Of course it's not just the solos that hand out a nod to Carcass, tracks like "Charted Carnal Effigy" sound not unlike something that might have appeared on "Necroticism..." or "Heartwork", but I wouldn't throw this band in with the whole gore grind/Carcass worship thing for a second. This is much better than that type of stuff, and goes in many more directions musically. Now, that being said, fittingly enough they do close the disc with a superb (albeit a tad slow) cover of "Carnal Forge", so... you know, that's pretty fucking awesome and all. As far as the recording, the drums are rigid. Really rigid. I can handle 'em, but thankfully the guitars are dominant. I love the guitar tone, it's heavy as shit and has a unique texture to it. The bass is audible, but I think it needs a thicker tone that would pop out between the drums and guitars. The vocals sound excellent however, and are placed very well in the mix. So in the end everything does sound better than average, and my complaints are minimal. The jewel case comes with one of those slip sleeves around it, depicting additional artwork of a bloody rubber glove resting in a pool of blood and strands of hair, and on the back similar visuals with the names of various serial killers spiraling around an emblem of a sawblade. The cover art and all of the imagery throughout the booklet is actually fucking awesome, from the photos of the band hacking at themselves with a saw, to the large shots of bloody medical instruments. Everything actually looks somewhat disgustingly realistic, which is a nice touch. The lyrics are quite typical and do nothing for me, but the visual impact of the record more than makes up for that. So, yeah. This is a killer record, and I'm glad I picked it up. If you're into vicious death metal with a knack for good songwriting and appropriate threads of melody, get this shit. (8/10)
Running time - 38:07, Tracks: 11
[Notable tracks: The Saw & the Carnage Done, Ornaments of Derision, Charted Carnal Effigy, Carnal Forge]
Aborted - http://www.goremageddon.be

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