Search - Aborted :: Goremageddon

Gore-grind's best new band

A. Stutheit | Denver, CO USA | 12/09/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Brutal. That is simply the best word to describe the third full-length album by Belgium's Aborted, 2003's "Goremageddon." There's also no label that is more fitting for this album than Listenable Records, as it is an unholy blend of gore metal, grindcore, death-grind, technical death metal, and even a tiny bit of melodeath that is comparable to the likes of Carcass (both newer and latter day), Exhumed, Brutal Truth, Cryptopsy (circa 1998's "Whisper Supremacy"), and Cannibal Corpse. The result is an uncompromisingly calamitous, mind numbing cacophony of raw, abrasive production, great, ferocious riffs, insanely fast, skull-cracking blast beats, deep, adherent, sludgy grooves, ripping guitar solos, and torturous, guttural vocals that usually verge on the classic gore-grind pig-squeal style. And, of course, with a name like Aborted, you can expect the lyrics to be every bit as brutal as the music (think along the lines of subject matter like eating mutilated bodies, and doctors mutilating and twisting his patients' bodies, and you'll get the gist.)



The songs on "Goremageddon" do become a bit same-y sounding, but they definitely wreak more-than-enough carnage and devastation to take up that slack. After beginning with a creepy horror-movie sample (someone declares "the doctor is in"), opener "Meticulous Invagination" sets the album's tone immediately by tearing the listener's head off with a crushing deluge of monstrous, grinding riffs, pummeling drums, grumbling bass notes, skin-crawling shrieks, and a good, melodic solo. "Parasitic Flesh Resection" keeps the ball rolling with ridiculous, jackhammering blast beats throughout. The listener doesn't get a moment of relief until track three, "The Saw & The Carnage Done," which begins with a moderately paced tempo, but it gains steam and builds up to its usual blinding, blasting fury in almost no time at all. A really cool, dive-bombing solo is also included here. Other standouts include "Charted Carnal Effigy," which boasts a thunderous breakdown, winding solo, and tastefully semi-melodic guitar leads; the buzzsaw riffing behind "Clinical Colostomy"; the crunching groove and mini bass solo of "Medical Deviance"; the two shredding solos that crop up in "Nemesis"; and the set closer, "Carnal Forge," a competently covered Carcass classic.



It almost goes without saying that "Goremageddon" isn't for everybody (just look at the title!) The busy arrangements and numerous moments of teeth-shaking brutality present here will make this album a bit overwhelming for genre newcomers; everybody else, however, will find this to be quite a killer, enjoyable, and very technically-impressive slab of extreme metal which cements Aborted's status as the best gore-grind/metal band since Dying Fetus."