Tuesday 21 April 2015

Abyss - ‘Heretical Anatomy’ (Album Review)


Album Type: Full-Length
Date Released: 14/4/2015
Label: 20 Buck Spin

‘Heretical Anatomy’ DD//LP track listing:

1). Heretical Anatomy
2). The Atonement
3). Chained to Extinction
4). Flesh Cult
5). Prophecies of Churning Horror
6). Atavistic Decay
7). Thrall of the Elder Gods
8). Nightmares in Skin

Review:

Toronto has brought us the nastiness of Abyss. The band mixes and melds genres to great effect. You can tell this is death metal immediately, but there is thrash, some grind here and there and also crust too.  ‘Heretical Anatomy’ kicks off the album furiously. It's loud, it's fast and it's raw. The production is all those things so don't expect pro-tools clarity: expect sound and fury!

‘The Atonement’ keeps the pace up with hints of early thrash in the soloing before the riffing takes on a more punk edge. ‘Chained To Extinction’ has that fuzzy bass tone loved by, well, all of us, before the track blasts away into grinding aggression and then, yes, a Bolt Thrower groove!
‘Flesh Cult’ is very quick indeed and shows the band's crust influences in the vocals and pacing of the verses.

‘Prophecies of Churning Horror’ is two minutes of aural carnage.... just as ‘Atavistic Decay’ is as well! ‘Thrall of the Elder Gods’ allows the band more room to breathe and runs closer in length to six minutes and closer in musical scope to death metal or even death doom of bands like Asphyx.

‘Nightmares in Skin’ is a short sharp electric jolt of energy and anger to finish this thoroughly enjoyable album. As noted, the band mix and match genres well and there is truly something for all those interested in most ends of the extreme music spectrum. This is a fine album and deserves to draw its audience from multiple followers. Try them out and you may well like what you hear.

Words by: Richard Maw

‘Heretical Anatomy’ is available here

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