Search - Aborted :: The Archaic Abattoir

Brutal horror / gore themed death metal. Awesome!

Ben Stubbs | Australia | 05/21/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"After 2003's fantastically brutal "Goremageddon" album, I was very much anticipating Aborted's next release. Over the years, these Belgium death metal fanatics have been exponentially improving both their skills and their sound, so I knew "The Archaic Abottoir" was going to be something special. But I didn't expect this!



Aborted have at some point made a conscious decision to expand their sound, adding some much needed variety that has taken them from "just another Carcass rip-off" into the upper legions of modern death metal. Now don't get me wrong, this is seriously brutal, and contains all of the recognisable trademarks of an Aborted album, such as gore-themed lyrics, horror movie samples, growls, screams and awesome blast-beats. It's not what the band has taken out as much as what they've added to the mix. There's a newly acquired emphasis on melody which had only occasionally showed its face on previous outings, the occasional groove, along with much more variety in speed in general. Basically, these guys are no longer content blasting their way through 40 minutes and to be honest, I think it was a great time for the change. If this had sounded just like "Goremageddon", then the band would not have garnered any further praise or more importantly, they wouldn't have expanded their fan base the way this baby certainly will.



If anything, I don't think the production is as clear as on its predecessor, but it still sounds great. The slightly rawer sound gives it more of a live sound and some real depth to proceedings. It did take me a few listens to come to this opinion though as everything sinks in and becomes more apparent. Each track has an identity of it's own this time round, which is something that is more difficult to say about the bands past discography.



So it's fairly obvious at this stage that I think "The Archaic Abottoir" is great. I recommend it blindly to anyone that enjoys brutal death metal, especially fans of gore or horror themes. Aborted may not be that original, but that's never been what they're about. And this is just too solid and gripping to be ignored."

Give me Gore or give me Death!

Ellen Radow | 11/05/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This a must have for fans of death metal. Aborted are very presice, and unlike the there previous albums, they are changing back between a a low death metal growl to screaching scream. I sometimes get annoyed when they slow down, but other than that the music is very fast and satisflying. Whatever comes next from Aborted though, I expect will be there masterpeice."

First of all......

gravemonkey | seattle, wa | 11/03/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"... the mother facko's who are giving this album a bad review are probally the same people who bought the latest in flames cd. while their not as brutal as in goremageddon, they still have claims on ownage. i saw them live w/cryptopsy and suffocation here in seattle, and they rocked, i've been listening to these guys since goremagedden and personaly knew i might not get to see them again. so jumped at the opertunity to rock out with my c*ck out to thes belgium f_*ks, and was not dissapointed. as far as the album goes, i actually hated it for months after i bought it and untill recently when i saw their new video, i thought i might give the new cd a chance again, and found myself listening to it over and over at work. now i'm freaking hooked after seeing them live. shiznit i didnt even notice they had as many guest vocalist's on the cd untill i saw them live, a little bit let down that they resorted to another mans voice, but still it owns"