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ABADDON INCARNATE
Pessimist

Candlelight (2014)
Rating: 8.5/10

Irish deathsters Abaddon Incarnate have matured from being an outright death metal act to something far more grind-orientated. Having formed in the mid 90s they haven’t been the most consistent of acts, having only released five studio albums. Pessimist is the latest slab of scrap metal to slice the ears.

It’s been five years seen 2009’s Cascade so I was looking forward to this one, and I’m certainly not disappointed by the sheer intensity. With a Swedish influence in the guitar tone, some fantastic melancholy in the swirling solos and a varied vocal growl that borders on the shrill, this is Abaddon Incarnate at its loosest. This is pure death grind jam-packed with solid breaks, catchy discordance, angst-filled melody and blast beats aplenty.

The men responsible for this ungodly racket are vocalists Bill Whelan and Steve Maher, who both also bring the buzzsaw riffage to the brim. Behind this devastating double act sits bass bastardizer Steve Finnerty and drum machine Johnny King.

Everything about this record is just so raw and sickening that it’s hard not to be disturbed by the relentless percussion, and eventually be ground into submission by the carnal riffing. Abaddon Incarnate is simply the product of animalistic urges thrown upon the listener via the way of 14 relatively short, sharp shocks to the spinal column. Those of you who have become wrapped up in the contemporary “core” scene which seems intent on calling itself metal need to listen to this, because this is such a high and mighty chunk of meat that by the time you’ve experienced the likes of ‘Broken Spectre’, ‘Fear’, ‘Impaled Upon Your Zodiac’, ‘Undead Outcasts’ and ‘Funeral Hag’, you’ll be whimpering back to your mother begging her for something commercial and safe.

Pessimist takes me back to my teenage youth when grindcore was swallowing up the late 80s, bringing with it a punk and hardcore ethos and belching it all back out as a lethal concoction. This is simply the kind of record that likes to bully you until you’ll end up on your knees worshipping the arse off it. Delivered mouth to mouth like a thick soup consisting of rusty nails, Pessimist is a leviathan which strangulates, decapitates, lacerates, mutilates and defecates in its intensity, and doesn’t give a shit about the mess it leaves.

Very much of the old school void, Abaddon Incarnate have constructed a hideous manifestation that feeds off slow tempo evil and faster segments of the squalid. If this had been released back in 1988, say, it would have been considered a grindcore classic. Forget nostalgia, though, Abaddon Incarnate are of the now, but they are here to destroy it.

Neil Arnold

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