I’ve enjoyed listening to Aborted’s transformation from cold Floridian death metal clone to a menacing, groove filled, Belgian Carcass homage, and with the The Archaic Abattoir, Aborted have released the album that Impaled’s Death After Life should have been.

Backed by Tue Madsen’s (Mnemic, In-Quest, Ektomorf, Heaven Shall Burn) massive sound replacing Goremageddon’s slightly mechanical sound, Aborted leap from the plastic and grab you by the throat and shake you till brain matter seeps from your ears. Growler Sven de Caluwe has perfected the dual growl/scream approach, with a cavernous bellow and a fearsome scream that convey the medical/gore filled themes, both further enhancing the Carcass vibe.
The chunk filled rhythm section of Frederic – Bass and Gilles Delecroix – Drums makes for a hearty, sanguine ooze amid the regurgitative yet subtly melodic tone of the guitars, but also Aborted have honed their skills to now have memorable solos and a level of song writing polish to the fervent blasting to be considered the one to beat in the Carcass lovers sweepstakes. To some, the overly polished sound and mildly toned down brutality may be perturbing, but I embraced it as a necessary development and growth that sees the band try to shed the Leng T’che/In-Quest connections, though still inherently present.
From the medical intro of “Dead Wreckoning” to the precise pace of closer “Descend to Extirpation”, the album is littered with highlights amid the clinical savagery; the first solo and brazen lurch of “Gestated Rabidity”, the vile mid song groove ‘n’ blast of “Hecatomb”, the surprisingly eloquent yet pummeling “The Gangrenous Epitaph”, and the intense atmosphere of “Voracious Haemoglobinic Syndrome” (which like Impaled, uses some light B-Movie synths).
At the end of the day The Archaic Abattoir is still just a death metal album, but to these ears, it does so many things right that seem to all fall into place and make it a pretty perfect death metal album that rekindles a sort of Necrotism shiver, not in that ‘one of the most classic death metal albums ever released’ sense, but in the way it glosses its groovy bludgeoning with a smart sense of guttural control and restraint.
I would not be surprised to see this thing crawl onto my top ten list for 2005.

[Visit the band's website]

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