Aborted | ‘Engineering The Dead’

Got a sample of these guys on a promo cd and I liked it so much I decided to give the album a review. The very definition of the word underground, they did a split with Christ Denied a few years ago, but just like Depresy I always passed them by because nothing about them really grabbed me. Belgium hasnt really ever given much to extreme metal save for the excellent Ancient Rites, but one should take notice of Aborted, because their death/goregrind is totally brutal and catchy as hell. In amidst the blasts are instantly memorable sections seemingly influened by thrash, and a lot of groove. Ultimately its the typical fare, but the brutal vocal and excellent guitar sound make for extremely entertaining if not necessarliy the deepest of all listens. Taking reference from the old school and brutalling it up, all the common influences shine through : the vocals at times sound pleasingly like Chris Barnes at his best, and the overuse of pinch harmonics on the guitars brings a little dew to my eye in loving memory of old CC. Theres not really alot to be said about the songs themsleves, because they’re all fairly standard (not to detract from them-but i suspect you know what i mean). The title track stands out instantly as the most vicious, and reminds me a little bit of Vital Remains as well. This is the kind of cd one needs for feeling very inebriated, very metal and very brutal. But why must bands like Aborted still insist on using shit b-movie samples!? Am I the one with the irony bypass? Anyway, if youre a fan of death or grind you could do a lot worse than pick this up.

3.4 / 5 – Earl Grey ::: 15/7/01