A. Stutheit 2007-12-18
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It seems like people have been crowning bands as "the next Carcass" almost since the day "Heartwork" was released in 1993. But even though countless groups (including The Black Dahlia Murder, Hate Eternal, Impaled, All Shall Perish, and County Medical Examiners) would make Carcass proud, it is now officially safe to say that the heir to the throne has finally been found. That band's name is Aborted.
Very much like that other band mentioned above, this Belgium five-piece have gotten progressively more melodic and experimental with each release, and as a result, they've also polarized their fanbase, and made many longtime followers outraged. Their third full-length, 2003's "Goremageddon," was their first to flirt with melody (with the use of occasional melodic solos); and 2005's "The Archaic Abattoir" took experimentation a step further by adopting a crystal clear production, some "Heartwork"-style groove, and even a couple open-chord progressions. And now, two years later, Aborted have released their far and away most harmonic, innovative, and controversial release to date, this year's very aptly Carcass-esque entitled "Slaughter & Apparatus: A Methodical Overture."
Of course, this is still Aborted, so it is still predominantly very brutal. Thus, while there is a wealth of actual, honest-to-god melody, variety, harmony, and texture to be heard here, you initially probably won't even notice them because they are very subtle when constantly surrounded by stellar, airtight musicianship (i.e. furious thrash riffs and punishing blast beats). And there are a handful of traditional-sounding Aborted songs on hand here. The excellent, catchy, blistering riffs in such monsters as "Archetype" and "Odious Emanation" showcase the band's old-school-esque sound, and so do the title track, "And Carnage Basked In Its Ebullience," and "Prolific Murder Contrivance," which are bursting with slamming, lightning-fast, mind-bogglingly amazing blasts (newfound drummer extraordinaire Dan Wilding is a true surgeon behind the trapkit!)
A good chunk of the album, however, is a different story. All twelve of these songs pack a great, throat-ripping intensity, but a lot of them also manage to retain a surprisingly high level of tunefulness and sonic richness because deliciously melodic riffs and leads abound throughout. Plus, some wailing, almost crystalline solos that sounds taken straight out of the Gothenburg playbook even crop up here and there (see "The Foul Nucleus of Resurrection" and "Ingenuity In Genocide"). And Aborted don't just stop there -- they take even more daring ventures on synthesizer (yes, synthesizer!)-enhanced offerings like "Avenious" and "And Carnage Basked In Its Ebullience" (the former is of particular note for its almost symphonic keyboards). Lastly of note, "Underneath the Rorulent Soil" is possibly the disc's biggest highpoint, and boasts one of the coolest and most chillingly atmospheric intros/outros in recent memory.
Naturally, many a grindcore purist will react to "Slaughter & Apparatus" the same way they did to "Heartwork" -- by being disgusted by it and labeling it a "sell-out." No, this is probably not the type of run-of-the-mill extreme metal that you're used to hearing, but the fact of the matter is, experimenting and evolving should never be frowned upon when the result is one of the most original, unique, exciting, well-textured, unpredictable, and meticulous grindcore/technical death metal/melodeath releases of all time. Also, be sure to give this album more than one listen because it will surely take some time to reveal its full genius. In fact, it may be a few years before most metalheads realize how important it is to the genre but time will prove its worth. Granted, "S&A: AMO" falls just short of complete perfection (on account of a slick, over polished sound and some song-to-repetition), but it is still another excellent effort from these latter-day death-grind masters.
