Abhorrent (US) - Intransigence

Artist: Abhorrent (US)
Release Title: Intransigence
Year: 2015
Label: Willowtip Records
Genre: Brutal/Technical Death Metal
Tracklisting:
1. Passage
2. The Elegance of Asymmetry
3. Ifrit
4. Reward System Malfunction
5. Clarity of Will
6. A Lightness of Mind
7. Ill-Conceived
8. Eternal Recurrence
9. Larva
10. Parasite

The debut effort from Texas brutal/technical death metal psychos Abhorrent features plenty of enjoyable yet somewhat formulaic takes on the merging of the two styles. With the brutality making the most impactful impression here, from the tight, raging rhythms and furious, swirling rif-work on display here there’s plenty to note here of this style which makes the album seem all the more technically challenging when it manages to make these seem all the more devastating by offering the kind of overwhelming musicianship that works nicely alongside that heavy chugging rhythms. This makes for a rather enjoyable time where it manages to mix them even further with challenging, complex riff-work that offers tight, brutally blistering rhythms alongside the fine drumming carrying that alongside its series of blasting charges that work really well together. There’s one seemingly glaring problem throughout this one as the album does tend to come off a little one-sided with it’s rhythms as the songs tend to blend together into a blur of tight chugging and blasting drum-work for the most part. As it goes along, it being so seemingly married to these bursts of tight rhythms and complex patterns that there’s a real loss of identity as it goes along just becoming an intermingling mess of riffing and blasting drumming that’s competent and challenging but really hard to focus on what’s going on. It’s really the one problem here as the rest of this has a lot to like.

The first half here starts this one off rather well. Instrumental intro ‘Passage’ offers an ambient sound collage amidst a sea of churning riffing leading into proper first track ‘The Elegance of Asymmetry’ featuring plenty of tight chugging riffing, dexterous drum-blasts and churning patterns keeping the unrelenting pace full of complex tempo changes and rhythm switches as the brutal blasting drumming brings the tempo changes into the final half for a strong opener. ‘Ifrit’ uses swirling technical patterns and charging drumming full of challenging arrangements utilizing tight, frantic patterns alongside the technically-challenging riffing charging into the swirling arrangements and brutal drum-work in the finale for another strong effort. ‘Reward System Malfunction’ utilizes churning rhythms and plenty of tight, blasting drumming that takes the challenging, complex patterns alongside the mid-tempo riff-work churning along through the series of swarming, churning rhythms blasting along through the final half for the album’s clear highlight offering. The mid-album instrumental breather ‘Clarity of Will’ brings deep, thunderous bass-lines and classical piano notes that offer a calming, relaxing air.

The second half is slightly below the first half but is still enjoyable enough. Leading from the previous track, ‘A Lightness of Mind’ features tight, blaring rhythms and plenty of technical swirling rhythms charging along throughout the plodding mid-tempo paces with the charging rhythms and blaring bass-lines holding the complex rhythms along into the tight finale for an enjoyable effort. ‘Ill-Conceived’ immediately blasts through tight patterns and chugging rhythms with plenty of frantic and complex arrangements making for a rather charging series of riffing patterns leading into the swarming solo section and chugging along into the complex final half for another solid and enjoyable effort. ‘Eternal Recurrence’ takes frantic mid-tempo chugging and complex riffing alongside the rattling drum-work utilizing plenty of tight, raging rhythms throughout the sprawling tempos charging along the mid-section with the aimless chugging and frantic drumming blasting along in the finale for a mostly bland effort overall. ‘Larva’ uses a light, extended acoustic intro before turning into tight, complex riff-work and dexterous, blistering drum-blasts taking the thumping rhythms along through the sprawling mid-tempo rhythms featuring the challenging riffing turning back into blistering drum-work for the final half into a stylish and enjoyable effort. Album-closer ‘Parasite’ takes a steady, sprawling rhythms and complex, blasting drum-work that soon settles into frantic, unrelenting riff-work alongside the explosive, challenging rhythms leading into the churning rhythms along throughout the steady tribal patterns leading through the finale for a solid lasting impression.

Though it can run into problems with itself later on where it takes way too much similarity with the different rhythms here, this is still an overall enjoyable amount of brutality and technicality that manages to make this one a band to watch for fans of either style or fans of extreme metal in general.

Score: 83/100

Does it sound good? Order from here:
https://willowtip.bandcamp.com/album/intransigence

Brutus (Neth) - Murwgebeukt

Artist: Brutus (Neth)
Release Title: Murgebeukt
Label: Willowtip Records
Year: 2016
Genre: Brutal Death Metal
Tracklisting:
1. Prematuur
2. Judaswieg
3. Vernederd
4. Lijdensweg
5. Vrouwenhaat
6. Kentering
7. Verbolgen
8. Gruweldaad
9. Rubensvrouw
10. Vulvanus
11. Achterdocht
12. Geestesziek
13. Murwgebeukt
14. Synopsis
15. Teloorgang
16. Ter ziele

The second full-length from Dutch brutal death metallers Brutus comes off as one of the most ferocious and unrelenting examples of the genre despite the decade-plus absence by the band. Utterly filled with tight, utterly raging tempos and full-throttle paces here, this is much more of a speed-driven brutal death metal offering ferocious riff-patterns that are truly demonic and feral as the unrelenting nature of the material comes out in full-force to make this an exceptionally explosive blast. Firing off explosive rhythm work here with technically-complex riffing and furious razor-wire patterns,it merely completes the more furious and blasting-heavy style on display with this one not only being so fast and savage in it’s tempos but also managing to incorporate enough precision-filled dynamics into the songwriting to keep things interesting beyond just the formulaic barbarian punishment doled out here. Also managing to feature just feral drumming and savage inhuman growling into the mixture, this manages to become quite an enjoyable effort. Right off the bat, though, one does manage to come across one of the album’s few weak points as there’s the feeling here that too much material is packed onto this release. This is especially true with several of the short, brief instrumentals on here that do tend to run this along to the point of overload by getting a breather in on a style of music that by definition really shouldn’t offer one. Likewise, for redundancy sake there’s no need to have this many original songs on the record at all either since the second half bleeds together with so much infernal blasting and guttural growling that it all starts to feel too samey-sounding to really get the full-impact of its’ intended mission, yet each of these effort only ends ups hindering this one slightly.

The first half is a solid representation of what to expect here. Instrumental intro ‘Prematuur’ features a crazed swirling guitar riff and distorted rhythms slowly leads into proper first track ‘Judaswieg’ features unrelenting pounding drumming, frantic rhythms and frenetic razor-wire riffing filled with tight patterns racing along the utterly chaotic tempos filled with plenty of ravenous change-overs and full-throttle blasting that carries into the final half that makes for a truly blistering and brutal opening shot. ‘Vernederd’ utilizes vicious razor-wire riff-work and tight rhythmic drumming to pound along at a savage mid-tempo charge as the tight guitar-work and blasting drumming continually bring the dynamic start/stop choppy patterns into the raging finale for another full-on blasting charge. ‘Lijdensweg’ opens with blasting drum-work and furious riff-work that work along through the twisting, technical patterns with the furious tempos taking the raging rhythms marching along with plenty of high-speed riff-work plowing alongside the maniacal drum-blasts howling along into the final half which makes for another strong highlight. ‘Vrouwenhaat’ utilizes utterly ferocious brutal blasting and dynamic rhythmic work with the furious guitars and twisting technical razor-wire riffing bringing along the choppy, chaotic rhythm blasting along in the finale for an enjoyable if not altogether essential track. The interlude ‘Kentering’ is a brief wall of distorted noise leading into the ferocious ‘Verbolgen’ which uses choppy rhythms, furious drumming and dexterous razor-wire patterns that continually plow through the utterly crazed blasting drumming with the swirling riff-work bringing along plenty of fiery rhythms as the dynamic patterns continually move through the crazed final half for one of the album’s overall highlights. ‘Gruweldaad’ slowly works up from the twisting technical patterns through the ravenous tempos with the tight, frantic blasting and swirling razor-wire riffing carrying the main rhythms along with plenty of savage patterns amid the choppy drumming with the savage patterns continuing on through the finale for another strong offering.

The second half is a little more of the same here but does contain some overly-familiar ideas. ‘Rubensvrouw’ utilizes choppy patterns alongside blasting drumming with the razor-wire riffs continuing through the frenetic, chaotic patterns alongside the utterly frantic drumming blasts and the furious, frantic riff-work dripping with blazing technically-precise rhythms into the charging final half for a strong overall effort. ‘Vulvanus’ offers bulging blistering riff-work and furious rhythms merging alongside the swirling patterns with the pounding drumming charging along with the up-tempo riff-work full of charging patterns and furious accents weaving throughout the chaotic patterns continually charging along into the finale for a dynamic if slightly overlong blast of feral material. The next instrumental breather ‘Achterdocht’ takes sampled cinematic howling winds and breathing before turning into a simple churning riff leading into ‘Geestesziek’ as the swirling riff-work and pounding drumming sound collide into a blast of swirling razor-wire patterns charging along at a furious mid-tempo pace with the furious drumming and intense riffing blistering through the charging and furious final half for another impressive effort. The title track features raging riff-work and tight drumming blasting through the furious, twisting rhythms pounding along as the fiery riffing continually blasts through the frenetic tempos with the extended mid-section breakdown leaving the dynamic bludgeoning rhythms blasting along into the finale for an overall enjoyable effort. ‘Synopsis’ features tight, utterly ferocious rhythms raging along through the choppy patterns with the plentiful drum-blasts blasting through with furious intensity charging along with bestial riffing churning along with the dynamic choppy rhythms continuing on through the final half in another overall strong track. ‘Teloorgang’ uses utterly raging razor-wire riffing and pounding drumming blasting along with furious intensity as the charging riffs weave through technically-complex razor-wire patterns alongside the furious drumming rhythms flowing alongside the rampaging guitar-work into the frenetic finale for a blistering and intense effort. Lastly, album closer ‘Ter ziele’ features sampled sounds and rather intense collages of distorted noise that works it’s way along quite nicely with the effect of leaving the madness behind that serves as the perfect ending note here.

Overall this is a certainly enjoyable enough release that does serve a more fitting epitaph for their fallen friend which is certainly respectable enough here though taken as a more traditional release it’s certainly lacking at times. It’s not enough to make this an all-over skip or a pass, especially for fans of maniacally-brutal and up-tempo death metal who are for sure the intended targets here, but the legacy does overshadow the music to a point.

Score: 88/100

Does it sound good? Order from here:
https://willowtip.bandcamp.com/album/murwgebeukt