Aborted - Global Flatline
Century Media
Death Metal
13 songs (43:39)
Release year: 2012
Aborted, Century Media
Reviewed by Khelek

Aborted had been one of my favorite death/grind bands since I decided to check out their 2005 release The Archaic Abattoir. However, their most recent release Strychnine.213 didn't really do much for me. The guitar complexity and groove elements that I enjoyed so much were not nearly as prevalent, and the melodic elements from the previous albums seemed just thrown in rather than thought out. So now the Belgians are back after close to 4 years without releasing a full-length album, and there have been many lineup changes since the previous album was released, with the only original band member remaining founder and lead growler Sven de Caluwe. Fortunately he has taken the band back in the direction they were going when The Archaic Abattoir was released, which makes this album a good listen, despite sounding somewhat rehashed.

The intro track Omega Mortis creates this sense of dread right from the beginning, with sounds of some kind of news report about a plague that is sweeping the planet. Call me old-fashioned, but I enjoy these sort of creepy intros from death and grind bands. The title track starts off with some pretty typical brutal death riffs and the growls of Svencho. I have always thought he has a great brutal death growls that fit this sound. The drums and guitars are extremely fast and heavy, with melodic and complex guitar soloing that sounds great backed by the heavy riffs. The Origin Of Disease is quite repetitive, but at least keeps things fast and heavy. Of Scabs And Boils catches my attention with its catchy, mid-paced riffs. Once again it gets a bit too repetitive though. And where's the guitar solo? Fortunately Vermicular, Obscene, Obese gets the excellent technical guitar work going again with hyperspeed riffs and changing time-signatures. One of the final tracks, Grime, also has some excellent guitar work, although once again the song structure is quite basic. Global Flatline also has a few slower, more old-school death metal tracks. Expurgation Euphoria almost sounds like something Kataklysm would do, although it's not nearly as catchy or energetic unfortunately. Endstille is a doomy (and much longer) track that uses some excellent melodic guitar work to spice up the slow, dragging riffs. It doesn't sound like most of the rest of the album, but I think it's a good way to end it.

For the most part this album is Aborted doing what they have done for much of their career, consistently using heavy, driving riffs to create some really listenable, energetic songs, but ultimately not coming very close the complexity and interesting techniques of the best in the genre, or even their own best albums. It's definitely an album that can be enjoyed for a few listens, but ultimately I do not think it has a whole lot of replay value, which is disappointing given the band's history, but I think this can be chalked up to the massive lineup changes. However there is certainly still a lot of talent here, and I think these guys are on the right track, they just need to keep improving together as a band.

Killing Songs :
Global Flatline, Vermicular, Obscene, Obese, Grime
Khelek quoted 70 / 100
Other albums by Aborted that we have reviewed:
Aborted - ManiaCult reviewed by Goat and quoted 74 / 100
Aborted - Coronary Reconstruction EP reviewed by Goat and quoted no quote
Aborted - Strychnine.213 reviewed by Goat and quoted 67 / 100
Aborted - Goremageddon: The Saw And The Carnage Done reviewed by Crims and quoted 84 / 100
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There are 3 replies to this review. Last one on Tue Aug 14, 2012 12:24 pm
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