RSS Feed


ABOMINATIONS
Summoning Death

Self-released (2018)
Rating: 9/10

Wow! Just when I think to myself that death metal is bereft of evil and idea, along come hideous German manifestation Abominations, a one-man band that lives up to its moniker within just a few seconds of playing this cavernous heap of seething sickness.

Since their inception in 2016, Abominations have released two demo recordings and now this unearthly debut full-length record; a vile, inharmonious creation which sounds as if it was all composed in the coldest dungeons of Hell. This is the work of a guy named Void, a twisted genius of the highest order, and from the off this is a pungent, hissing, damp-soaked composition that is sure to get the asthma sufferers choking on its mould.

Ten wretched songs make up this formidable, lo-fi, underground dweller of an opus laced with some of the vilest, hissing taunts I’ve heard. The music behind it all ranges from speedy, thrashing black death to mid-paced, choking splurges of horror and cold doom. The whole feel, sound and smell of this thing is utterly rank; the slurping, sloppy vocal spits and spews are fetid noises just to weave together this sodden work of despair, with murky percussion thudding before a rush of horrid guitar comes hurtling in like a foul draught of nausea.

What sewer does this sort of cacophony emerge from? ‘Ancient Forces Reawakened’ through to closer ‘Call Of The Void’ are dank, holocaustic expressions dished out like some avid, frothing tormenter getting a buzz of his latest lashing.

Dirty black blasts of aural menace battle it out with hellish, blood-spattered demonic speediness, while peculiar Gothic airs infiltrate like spurts of ill air as Summoning Death makes its existence known through an initially slow, eerie title track of doomy origin, where the guitar sound sort of rolls and trundles like an oily serpent emerging from its soiled coils. Morbid leads try to go toe-to-toe with the murk but are suffocated in this dense, humid atmosphere before a pacey riff comes billowing and sheds its rancid scales.

At times, the vocal outpourings are mere splutters and chokes as a sundering riff shifts between the cracks of gloom, as with the muddy ‘Vengeful Apparitions’. But the whole pit is a smelling, turgid mass of writhing limbs bathing in sordid gloop; the guttural slop of ‘Prison Of Flesh And Bones’ hammering like some long imprisoned ogre hoping to gain one last chance of exit from its cankered cell by rattling those rusty bars.

Indeed, to say this opus is the pits would be an understatement; Abominations truly trawling the depths and scraping the dregs from the barrel bottom with this timely reminder that not all the horrors of extreme metal have been plundered.

The thrashing flatulence of ‘Visions Of Gore’ vomits layers of shit, piss, blood and oil at the ears before a sudden guttural murmur tempts us into thinking that this racket will subside. But no, Abominations keep up the dirty work, ‘Invasion Of Unearthly Beings’ bringing hints of stark, clammy melody before ‘Call Of The Void’ creaks, groans and aches with doomy vigour. The despondent guitar tone runs thick and gluey with that persistent drum tap as the dismal air once again thickens to the last blast of nocturnal assaults which finish us off with such severity that there’s not even a scrap of meat left on the bone.

Damn, this is a wretched, wicked, unnerving and above all soggy record, bringing together blackened thrash nuances with deathlier drips of morbidity. Horrible, noisy stuff… and I love it!

Neil Arnold

<< Back to Album & EP Reviews



Related Posts via Categories
Share