...SIŁA I PIĘKNO MUZYKI TKWIĄ W JEJ RÓŻNORODNOŚCI..


..::OPIS::..

Ta godzina niesamowitego muzycznego napięcia i 'szaleństwa' zawsze ucieka mi niczym krwawa rzeka.
Płyta dosłownie tryska energią. Macie dwie możliwości.
Albo wytrzymacie napór i po chwili zgodzicie się na tę całą makabryczną grę, albo tchórzliwie spierdolicie.
Gdzieś czytałem, że na Malcie żyje specjalny gatunek pszczół, który produkuje niezwykle odurzający miód. Jeśli tak jest naprawdę, to panowie z ABYSMAL TORMENT musieli zostać użądleni przez jakiś naprawdę wkurwiony rój.

FA

Abysmal Torment w ciągu kilkunastu lat scenicznej działalności dorobili się przyzwoitego grona zwolenników na całym świecie, ale cuś mi się wydaje, że z lekka przeceniają u nich głód swojej muzyki i ogólne oddanie. Maltańczycy postanowili bowiem wynagrodzić fanom pięcioletnią przerwę wydawniczą i na potrzeby Cultivate The Apostate skomponowali pełną godzinę brutalnych death metalowych tortur. W tym miejscu kark mięknie, a kolana się uginają, bo jak dobry by nie był ten materiał, jest go po prostu od zajebania, a odnosząc go ilościowo do średniej gatunkowej – dostaliśmy (przynajmniej) dwa albumy w cenie jednego. Promocja jak w Biedronce – oszczędność kasy i miejsca na półce, zastanawia mnie tylko, kto — nawet z najtwardszych zawodników — będzie w stanie wysłuchać Cultivate The Apostate od początku do końca z pełną uwagą, nie wyrywając się w międzyczasie do innych zajęć. Tym bardziej, że Abysmal Torment nie stosują tu żadnych trików nabijających czas: rozbudowanych introsów, przerywników czy kilkunastominutowych fragmentów ciszy przed „ukrytymi” kawałkami – nie, zrobili aż trzynaście konkretnych numerów i w każdym napierają pozbawiony udziwnień, zwarty, stuprocentowo amerykański i odpowiednio techniczny brutal death metal.

Warto przy tym zaznaczyć, że trzymają zaskakująco równy poziom przez całą płytę, ani na chwilę nie spuszczając z tonu. Mimo to udało mi się wychwycić aż trzy kawałki, które wybijają się nieco za sprawą bardziej chwytliwych riffów: „Communion Of Ejaculation”, „Metamorphis Of The Maggots” i „Amidst Your Scorched Barren Shrine”. Z góry jednak ostrzegam, że różnice między nimi a pozostałymi są naprawdę minimalne i nie ma sensu nastawiać się na jakieś symfonie urozmaiceń. Godzina takiego grania to nie w kij dmuchał i dlatego bez odpowiedniego podejścia i znaaacznej ilości wolnego czasu Cultivate The Apostate potrafi dość szybko zmęczyć i w konsekwencji zanudzić. I obojętnie jaki aspekt tego albumu byśmy rozpatrywali, czego byśmy nie wychwalali, wrócimy do jego objętości. Muzycy Abysmal Torment najwyraźniej chcieli tym kolosalnym materiałem uszczęśliwić wielu, ale raczej zawęzili krąg potencjalnych odbiorców, bo wyszła im płyta dla bardzo zdeterminowanych.

demo


Abysmal Torment is known as a brutal death metal band and this is exemplified greatly by this beast of an album. Their previous work "Omnicide" was very underwhelming to me personally, although it was reviewed very highly. This time around the band may have had the biggest step up in terms of progression I have personally ever seen. This overall is an amazing album and should definitely be recognized as the best brutal death metal album this year so far in my opinion, even if it does have its faults. Both will be mentioned in this review.

I will start with the instrumentals: The guitars are tuned in a way that is very reminiscent to the old school Swedish/Finnish death metal chainsaw sound, and it sounds amazing for the album as a whole; if you like old Demigod, you will love the sound of this album. One of my favorite things about the album is how thick the guitar wall is on the entirety of the album, it doesn't sound muddy or distorted at all, just overwhelming and grandiose. The guitar work is very solid, while it is usually very fast throughout, it never gets overly technical to where it loses its slamming brutality. To mention the slamming brutality, holy crap people, if you are a fan of slam, this is basically a dream come true. The album clocks in at almost exactly an hour and the entire time is spent slamming, while still done tastefully. One of my favorites is in "Amidst Your Scorched Barren Shrine"; the slam in the middle of that song is almost nauseating to hear it is so hard and heavy.

The guitars usually keep a chug pattern throughout the slams, but almost every slam has its own little harmonic piece to go along with it on the lead guitar, a very nice accent to break the monotony that can come with the genre. A small complaint I have is that there is a dearth of solos on this behemoth of an album; I know it is usual for the genre but since it is a full hour long, they could have incorporated a few in somewhere. While this may be a brutal death metal album, the guitars are actually very groovy at parts, in "Hymn to Lucifer" there is a riff in that song that I guarantee will get stuck in your head for some time, which will make you listen to it over and over again to satiate it.

The drums are very present in this album, which they better be if you plan to have any chance at being a brutal death metal band. Most of the time filled is blasting which may be a turn off to some, but there is actually a ton of variation to the drumming. One thing I love, and don't see often is during the super heavy parts or slams, he matches the bass drum with the chug and it just amplifies the heaviness so much it's unreal; more people need to do it. The fills are never repetitive and are fast as crap, usually incorporating the bass drum in with it which is a plus. The bass is audible but underwhelming compared to the hulking beast that are the guitar walls on this album, some may hear it better than I but that is what I can tell.

Now to get to my complaints: The vocals are my biggest complaint of the album and is what detracts the most from this master work of brutality. They are mid range and stay mid range almost throughout the entire album, except for a handful of high pitch screams here and there. They are not bad at all on their own, don't get me wrong, but the fact that they stay so flat for the entire hour is almost infuriating. If I could give some advice to someone who listens to this: don't listen to it all at once, do 2 or 3 sessions because I love brutal death metal as much as anyone out there, but these vocals frankly got on my nerves around the 30 minute mark. I also noticed that the back half of the album is leaps and bounds better than the front half in my opinion, the first half of the album kind of blends together with the constant brutality. The back half is much more listenable and memorable, but again this is only my opinion. One last thing is I think it would benefit the album greatly if maybe 1 or 2 songs sidestepped the never ending slams to do some melodic work; the little accents on the slams sound amazing and a song made entirely of those in the midst of this crazy album would be nice, and are almost needed.

Some things outside of the music that deserve mentioning are that the album artwork is freaking insane. Some of the best artwork I've ever seen for a brutal death metal album, not just blood, gore and naked women; some serious symbolism in this that deserves a second look and comprehension if you're into that side of the music. The production value is great and is mixed very well, albeit some parts could be turned up or down at times. The physical copy of the album is great, high quality and has amazing artwork in the booklet, even including relevant quotes from notable people in history. Nothing about it feels cheap or flimsy (the jewel case version). If you are a fan of slam or brutal death metal you will love this almost unconditionally so I highly recommend you give this a listen, you wont regret it.

epicdrumline



..::TRACK-LIST::..

1. Whispering Venomous Ones 04:48
2. Host Of The Swine 04:36
3. Communion Of Ejaculation 03:46
4. Dead In The Flesh 04:24
5. Metamorphis Of The Maggots 04:42
6. Strangled Within Coils 04:35
7. Amidst Your Scorched Barren Shrine 04:47
8. Hang Them High 04:16
9. Dawning New Aeon 05:05
10. Malkuth 04:32
11. Conjured To Serve None 05:12
12. Hymn To Lucifer 04:34
13. Cultivate The Apostate 04:39



..::OBSADA::..

Nick Farrugia - Vocals
Melchior Borg - Vocals
Kurt Pace - Guitars
Karl Romano - Bass
Max Vassallo - Drums
David Depasquale - Guitars




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qORlDGh2D8E



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