Heaviness and brutality are the ultimate and most sought-after co-virtues of the death metal world. For the genre that has constantly pushed boundaries and given us the most unrelenting and extreme forms of music ever known to humans, it is never heavy enough. But then, come a few bands whose sole purpose is to take aural brutality to further ascension. And to create a sound so sick, it would conjure the most sinister creatures from the darkest depths of hell. Aborted happen to be the absolute pioneers of this sick art who have been spreading their code of brutality for 26 years.
Hailing from Waregem, Belgium they have been riding on sounds way ahead of their times and the butchery continues with ‘ManiaCult’. This latest offering is yet another unholy alliance of pure darkness and face-melting aggression. Like Mammoths marching the corridors of hell, “Verderf” sets the perfect undertone for the soul-battering that is to follow. The title track “ManiaCult” delivers the promised sickness through mind-bending grooves and sinister passages.
Next up is “Impetus Odi” which leaves absolutely no room to breathe by sheer virtue of its technical prowess followed by the sinister “Portal to Vacuity,” which is an embodiment of black metal-influenced grindcore goodness. “Dementophobia” is a fine brutal grind ballad. It is something which I could imagine Iron Maiden churn out if they played brutal death grind. Well, hypothetically of course.
The debauchery continues with riff-fest “A Vulgar Quagmire,” followed by a spooky keys driven bridge in “Verbolgen”. The album sound seems to take an even groovier direction with “Ceremonial Ineptitude” featuring continued face-melting precisions and earth-shattering breakdowns. As opposed to its name, “Drag me to Hell” does a great job in summoning the vilest of creatures from hell whereas “Grotesque” and “I Prediletti: The Folly of the Gods” conclude the script of darkness leaving us with a reeling desire for even more.
‘ManiaCult’ as an album right ticks all the required specifications for the genre.
The interweaving of terrifying atmospheres with deafening grooves lay the deathbed for you to experience your most nightmarish dreams. It is apparent that the band did not wander looking for a revolution in their sound. They rather have over the years built on the forces of technicality and precision making them one of the most formidable and terrifying faces of extreme music.
The idea of extremity and brutality will never be the same as Aborted churn out yet another record in ‘ManiaCult’ which bends the genre and tests brutal music to its limits.