2007-03-08
Long standing punk/grind bastards Abscess have found a warm home within the bosom of Tyrant Syndicate Productions, the shared venture of
Darkthrone's Fenris and the
Peaceville records label. As with all of their signings, this is blackened, dirty filth at it's most extreme. Is it any good? Depends on your definition of the word.
Of most interest to metal fans will be the presence of drummer/vocalist Chris Reifert, a legendary name in the death metal genre, an original member of
Death and one of the people behind gore death band
Autopsy, who's guitarist, Danny Coralles is also a part of Abscess. Musically it bears the same mindless violence Autopsy was famous for, but here it's closer to dirty, blackened punk.
While the first two tracks are sludgy, almost Doom-like pieces of puke, it's the third track that bears some resemblance to Autopsy's death metal, with some nice riffs and atmosphere. There's no denying Coralles's ability as a guitarist, he manages to add an injection of class with his guitar leads to this otherwise melody-free mess.
Tracks 4 and 5 are closer to the band's signature sludgy punk, violent and disorganized, this is as dirty as today's metal can get, much more reminiscent of 80's hardcore acts like
Agnostic Front or their likes, meaning, if it's death or black metal you're after, stir well away.
One of my favorite cuts here is the stoner-like "When Witches Burn", a smoked Rockn'Roll number with some great riffs and a fantastic wah-wah heavy lead break, had the whole album been like this I would have enjoyed it much better.
Certainly an album for old-school slime lovers, this is as outrageously filthy as it gets, and I have to say it's not exactly an album I've enjoyed.
Alon Miasnikov
