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Aborted - Strychnine.213 review



Reviewer:
4.5

108 users:
6.97
Band: Aborted
Album: Strychnine.213
Style: Brutal death metal, Melodic death metal
Release date: June 20, 2008
A review by: Herzebeth


01. Carrion
02. Ophiolatry On A Hemocite Platter
03. I35
04. Pestiferous Subterfuge
05. The Chyme Congeries
06. A Murmur In Decrepit Wits
07. Enterrement Of An Idol
08. Hereditary Bane
09. Avarice Of Vilification
10. The Obfuscate
11. Slaughtered [Pantera cover] [bonus]

The phrase "Can't blame a man for trying" grabs a whole different meaning when Aborted uses it; this band just keeps trying to win their fans back, you can see them doing the best they can to make people forget about their issues and flaws, they miserably fail though, and add to the pile the fact that, after "Goremaggedon", they keep releasing boring records with dull songwriting and amateurish music.

When this album started I immediately thought "Wow, this sounds interesting enough", then everything went back to normal; Aborted this time kept their new found melody in the drawer for a good amount of minutes, they added some catchy riffs, deleted most (not all) metalcore details, and finally created a boring Melodeath album, yes it's boring and in one word annoying, but it's at least Death Metal. Now, the songwriting still sounds uncooked and watered down, the guitar solos are truly depressing and the structures almost made me kill myself (but why should I, I'm not the one releasing stained underpants), to tell you the truth, the only thing that sounds mildly decent is the drumming, the rest is just ready to be flushed down the toilet.

I'm the first person promoting musical revolution and experimentation, there are only two guys in the world who loved the day when Carcass went from Goregrind to Melodeath, one is Jeff Walker and the other one is me; but this is clearly unbearable. I truly don't want them to release Goregrind again, not even Brutal Death, if they want to keep releasing Melodeath then by all means do so, I just ask for good Melodic Death, not mediocre metal trying to sound like In Flames and Necrophagist at the same time.

After 4 full-lengths the band still doesn't sound like when "The Purity Of Perversion" and "Engineering The Dead" came out, I don't think they will ever hit that jackpot again...they changed their music once, it was ok, but the downward spiral caught them and now they just sound awful and really boring...still, "Can't Blame A Man For Trying" right? At least the artwork and the song titles are very cool...


Rating breakdown
Performance: 4
Songwriting: 3
Originality: 5
Production: 7

Written by Herzebeth | 05.06.2008




Comments

Comments: 28   Visited by: 326 users
05.06.2008 - 01:52
Bloodshed
Account deleted
How did you bother with this band in the first place? Obviously their album sucks, everyone knows it already, even if they haven't listened to it yet. Like me!
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05.06.2008 - 02:39
Baz Anderson
Staff
I don't agree with this at all. Ok, you might not like the album but don't overreact, give it a fair review - please!

First, yes - this album isn't their best, and it does have some melodic death metal lines in it - but come on - they are not trying to sound like In Flames at all. This is still brutal death metal, but a brutal melodic death metal - and I like it a lot.

This album isn't the most brutal ever, so if you just came into this looking for brutality, then of course you are going to be a little disappointed - but what the album does do is use brutal death metal along with catchy riffs and memorable songs.

This is the kind of thing brutal death metal fans should be hailing - this isn't a monotonous album of brutality, there actually is diversity in here - you can tell one song from another!

Some songs slip under the radar, yes but on the whole I really enjoyed this album. When I first heard it I was disappointed, but when you get to know the songs the album really comes alive - you just need to give it chance.

Great album!
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05.06.2008 - 17:46
Herzebeth
Written by Baz Anderson on 05.06.2008 at 02:39

I don't agree with this at all. Ok, you might not like the album but don't overreact, give it a fair review - please!

HErz: But why this isn't a fair review my friend, I mean, I'm not saying this band sucks without giving a reason, and to be honest I do think MANY people, and mainly people who is into Brutal Death Metal, won't like this album, not even a bit, mainly because we are not that open minded lol....still, as a whole, even Slaughter and Apparatus was better than this piece of dog poo...be honest dude, this album at least is worth a 5...don't tell me you haven't heard A LOT...and I mean a ahitload of better albums...and of course you have heard even worse CD...




First, yes - this album isn't their best, and it does have some melodic death metal lines in it - but come on - they are not trying to sound like In Flames at all. This is still brutal death metal, but a brutal melodic death metal - and I like it a lot.

Herz: But please also understand that Brutal Melodic Death Metal is not even an existing genre, and nobody is doing it for a reason, because musically it sounds chaotic in a very bad way, and please man, just take a closer look at the structures, come on, it sounds like they wrote stuff with their feet...hear this not as a fan but as a critic my friend, please, I swear the scales are wrong, the time signatures just never fall into place, and the solos are just as simple as a turkey sandwich..with no mayonaise

This album isn't the most brutal ever, so if you just came into this looking for brutality, then of course you are going to be a little disappointed - but what the album does do is use brutal death metal along with catchy riffs and memorable songs.

Once again, take a closer look at the artwork, read the lyrics and the song titles...the band is promising something, and I swear it's not melodious riffs and catchiness, the band is obviously promising some good ol' Brutal Death, think about it, when a band throws all those elements is for one reason...that's why [b]In Flames or Coprofago do not have naked women wrapped with barbed wire in their covers so it's really not my fault ,or anybody's fault, to expect Brutal riffs here you see? please tell me you do




This is the kind of thing brutal death metal fans should be hailing - this isn't a monotonous album of brutality, there actually is diversity in here - you can tell one song from another!

Herz: Well, brutal Death Fans are maybe the toughest stones in the pile, and monotonous or not Brutal Death Metal is called Brutal Death Metal because it doesn't deliver melodeath Origin is BDM, Prostitute Disfigurement is BDM, Beheaded, Suffocation, Decrepit Birth, Visceral Bleeding, etc. and all those bands RULE with their monotonous brutality, even you love Origin man come on...


Some songs slip under the radar, yes but on the whole I really enjoyed this album. When I first heard it I was disappointed, but when you get to know the songs the album really comes alive - you just need to give it chance.
Herz: I received this album almost a month ago, I gave it many chances believe me


Great album!
Great comment, I love when people makes me think of things to answer, thanks!

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05.06.2008 - 18:25
Baz Anderson
Staff
Written by Herzebeth on 05.06.2008 at 17:46

[...]

Well thanks, I am glad you enjoyed responding. haha

Yeh, brutal death metal fans are usually the most close-minded, but I think times are changing a little bit these days.. you probably wouldn't get people listening to both Suffocation and Gamma Ray ten or fifteen years ago - but there are probably more that do that these days, so I think people will be a little more accepting to brutal death metal that is a little fruity.

I don't know how you can not enjoy "Enterrement Of An Idol" and "Avarice Of Vilification" though - these tracks are just so cool, haha, it isn't often you get brutal death metal so bouncy and groovy and pleasing to listen to.

I guess this album will split brutal death metal fans - I mean it isn't the best album, yeh, the last one better - but this is still very listenable. With brutal death metal fans it always seems to be a case of - if it isn't better than the last, it is automatically really really bad and not worth touching again.. but this is a good album in my opinion.
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05.06.2008 - 18:43
Marcel Hubregtse
Grumpy Old Fuck
Elite
Written by Baz Anderson on 05.06.2008 at 18:25

Written by Herzebeth on 05.06.2008 at 17:46

[...]

Well thanks, I am glad you enjoyed responding. haha

Yeh, brutal death metal fans are usually the most close-minded, but I think times are changing a little bit these days.. you probably wouldn't get people listening to both Suffocation and Gamma Ray ten or fifteen years ago - but there are probably more that do that these days, ...

You are actually wrong in that respect. In the 80s till mid Nineties metalheads were actually much more open-minded and listened to EVERYTHING that was metal, and also enjoying most of it.
From the mid-90s onwards I have seen this shift occur where metalheads tend to keep more and more to their own specific subgenres

As an example I want to give you the following line-up for the 1991 Dynamo Open Air festival.

Extreme
Ignorance
Metal Church
Morbid Angel
Obituary
Primus
Psychotic Waltz
Saigon Kick

Those were the only bands playing that day and not a single person complained that Extreme were on the same bill as Morbid Angel. Yes, that would be unthinkable nowadays since Extreme were the epitome of a band focused on scoring radio/tv hits and making as much money as possible.
Saigon Kick were quite a radio friendly band as well, Primus of course being totally off the wall, and Ignorance mixing thrash with funk.
Morbid Angel & Obituary fans were as much into those bands as the fans of those bands. But... the fans of Extreme for example just couldn't stand anything harder. Back in those days the fans of extreme metal were the open-minded ones and totally not the fans of the softer end of the spectrum.
----
Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal

Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight
Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.)
05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996

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05.06.2008 - 18:52
Baz Anderson
Staff
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 05.06.2008 at 18:43

[...]

Ok, well maybe metalheads were more open minded in the 80's because the different genres of metal had not become as rigidly defined as they are these days. (not saying they were not defined then, but they are very much split these days)

Yeh, from the mid-nineties people probably did start to sit more with their own sub-genres like you say, but I get the feeling that in the last couple of years this is not the case so much. There are quite a few members on here at the moment that list brutal bands as well as power metal bands as favourites. Maybe things are changing again? Who knows...

Hahahaha, all this is on the Aborted review..
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05.06.2008 - 18:56
Marcel Hubregtse
Grumpy Old Fuck
Elite
Back to the review...

I actually agree with Herz for once, although a 4.5 is too low. A 5.5 would suffice I would say.
----
Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal

Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight
Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.)
05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996

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05.06.2008 - 20:37
Herzebeth
About the comments!

Well, I was about to say what Marcel just said lol, he was there when everything started so he has better words for it. My take on this matter is, back in the old days there weren't so many sub-genres, so, most people were just feeling the "metal" side of all those things...that's why people to this day wear a Scorpions shirt in a Death Metal concert.

Then again, people got into metal for various reasons, if people were looking for the extreme side of things you´ll recommend a band like Diablo Swing Orchestra or Helloween they will give you the finger and keep listening to Death and Grind...others listened to Iron Maiden when they were like 15, and now if you give them something that it's not in the vein of Judas Priest or Soft Metal they will only gain a headache...and so on...

Now to the review...

As I said on this review, I can love Melodeath, I can love alternative and all genres even pop and whatever genre you can think of right now, as long as it's good music or well structured or amazingly well played I'm going to at least show some respect (you won't ever see me with a Madonna CD but you have no idea how much goodness I find in her music and her history)

Then again, for me, Strychnine.213 is not a good melodeath album, is just awful music with no structures and sloppy execution, that's all...that's why it deserves a low rating...
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06.06.2008 - 01:31
HardSide
I agree with the review, 4.5 is the perfect rating for an album that cant even meet normal standards when it comes to music.
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06.06.2008 - 01:34
foschino
Account deleted
ok, this album is not good at all, but the review is too severe, I think.
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12.06.2008 - 15:33
Unconsecrated
Perpetual Ascent
I'm so disappointed, this album is so boring...Sven's voice lacks brutality and all the rest is really uniteresting, it's just forgettable...5/10
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13.06.2008 - 02:57
Rating: 6
Dangerboner
Lactation Cnslt
These dudes really need Thijs and Niek back

I'd personally give the album a higher rating, but it's still sub-par Aborted, maybe even their worst! There's some good moments, but enough awkward moments to dissuade me from buying it :/
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14.06.2008 - 21:05
Metal George
Goremagedon was so much better then this one. Go get Goremagedon now!
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28.06.2008 - 04:41
Rating: 8
Opethian
find it funny how some people want bands to always sound and play their best. Just bought the new Aborted and i liked it. Probably sounds like crap through your tv speakers

Please dont compare this band to In Flames
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25.07.2008 - 00:08
Visioneerie
Urban Monster
I actually thought this was going to be a promising album, i guess i've evolved a bit. From the songs i've heard it really isn't so good, ... the riffs are uninspired, like recycled or something, ah well.
----
Any man can stand adversity, but to test his character give him power - A. Lincoln
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03.09.2008 - 22:30
Rating: 7
X-Ray Rod
Skandino
Staff
Mmmm... I don't see why the album has such a low rating. I would give it at least a 6,5.

But for personal tastes I could give it a 7,7 since I like what I'm hearing right now [Myspace]
Maybe it's not what everyone that is into BDM likes.. since it has some metalcore things all around it. And even the clean/screaming vocals reminds me a bit of In Flames. But C'mon people... it doen't ound that much like them... maybe just amateurish.

Good album... If you guys say that this is probably their worst album. Then I'm happy since I would glady buy all of them.
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Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29
Like you could kiss my ass

Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
Rod, let me love you.

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16.10.2008 - 00:32
Rating: 8
Its Not Very Bad i like their new style ... i listen to this album and i just think that some people doesn't like what is new .... i dont know but when a release come nobody likes it (well im not talking of Death Magnetic) some people doesn't take the time to listen ... first time i listened to Strychnine.213 i didnt like this record at all but after a few time i started to love it .. specially the tracks : Ophiolatry On A Hemocite Platter ,135 ,Hereditary Bane ,The Obfuscate. But there are some track that i still hate like : The Chyme Congeries ,Avarice Of Vilification so I put a 7 for this record ..... and still waiting for Fathomless Mastery From Bloodbath
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22.11.2008 - 19:25
Rating: 8
psycho yan
Great album!I like their new style!the structures of the song are like a dark poem with his bloody cover who represent the inspiration througt the lonlyness.considerate the talent of the new drummer with his young age and the beautifull melody these guy who is tuned in A so its fucking hard to play.for that i'm not agree with you Herzebeth. this album has made for all the nights of sickness and beer drinking
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22.04.2010 - 23:16
Maxx666
Meshuggahian
Horrible album.
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29.07.2010 - 19:35
Angelic Storm
Melodious
Written by Baz Anderson on 05.06.2008 at 02:39

I don't agree with this at all. Ok, you might not like the album but don't overreact, give it a fair review - please!

First, yes - this album isn't their best, and it does have some melodic death metal lines in it - but come on - they are not trying to sound like In Flames at all. This is still brutal death metal, but a brutal melodic death metal - and I like it a lot.

This album isn't the most brutal ever, so if you just came into this looking for brutality, then of course you are going to be a little disappointed - but what the album does do is use brutal death metal along with catchy riffs and memorable songs.

This is the kind of thing brutal death metal fans should be hailing - this isn't a monotonous album of brutality, there actually is diversity in here - you can tell one song from another!

Some songs slip under the radar, yes but on the whole I really enjoyed this album. When I first heard it I was disappointed, but when you get to know the songs the album really comes alive - you just need to give it chance.

Great album!

100% agree with this post. This is exactly what I think of the review, and this album!

Written by Baz Anderson on 05.06.2008 at 18:25
Yeh, brutal death metal fans are usually the most close-minded, but I think times are changing a little bit these days.. you probably wouldn't get people listening to both Suffocation and Gamma Ray ten or fifteen years ago - but there are probably more that do that these days, so I think people will be a little more accepting to brutal death metal that is a little fruity.

Yep, I think brutal death fans are usually the most closed minded of all metal fans. I listen to and enjoy pretty much all genre's of metal. I think the more brutal/obscure the metal is, the more likely that the fans of it will be closed minded. Which probably has a lot to do with type of people who are attracted to the genre. (Im talking in general, not the minority)
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10.09.2010 - 10:20
Maxx666
Meshuggahian
R.I.P. Aborted. This album sucks
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10.09.2010 - 12:17
!J.O.O.E.!
Account deleted
Written by Maxx666 on 10.09.2010 at 10:20

R.I.P. Aborted. This album sucks

You have a short memory don't you? Look up.
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10.09.2010 - 12:28
Marcel Hubregtse
Grumpy Old Fuck
Elite
Written by [user id=4365] on 10.09.2010 at 12:17

Written by Maxx666 on 10.09.2010 at 10:20

R.I.P. Aborted. This album sucks

You have a short memory don't you? Look up.

Why? The only post by him I see says that he thinks it's a horrible album. So I don't see a contradiction between his two posts.
----
Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal

Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight
Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.)
05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996

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10.09.2010 - 12:32
!J.O.O.E.!
Account deleted
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 10.09.2010 at 12:28

Why? The only post by him I see says that he thinks it's a horrible album. So I don't see a contradiction between his two posts.

Nah I'm just saying he's repeating himself
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10.09.2010 - 12:35
Marcel Hubregtse
Grumpy Old Fuck
Elite
Written by [user id=4365] on 10.09.2010 at 12:32

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 10.09.2010 at 12:28

Why? The only post by him I see says that he thinks it's a horrible album. So I don't see a contradiction between his two posts.

Nah I'm just saying he's repeating himself

Aha, I thought you implied he was contradicting himself
----
Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal

Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight
Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.)
05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996

Loading...
10.09.2010 - 21:32
Maxx666
Meshuggahian
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 10.09.2010 at 12:28

Written by [user id=4365] on 10.09.2010 at 12:17

Written by Maxx666 on 10.09.2010 at 10:20

R.I.P. Aborted. This album sucks

You have a short memory don't you? Look up.

Why? The only post by him I see says that he thinks it's a horrible album. So I don't see a contradiction between his two posts.

Ha ha!! Actually im so frustrated with this album, that i felt forced to repeat myself..I couldn't believe that they went from Gormageddon or Engineering the dead to this crap.
And no i don't have a short memory :-)... if i had then i wouldn't be sitting here at MIT with a mathematics major...:-)
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10.09.2010 - 21:40
Boxcar Willy
yr a kook
Havent heard it yet but am still going to i enjoy their music. through out their career
----
14:22 - Marcel Hubregtse
I do your mum

DESTROY DRUM TRIGGERS
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16.09.2010 - 17:38
I belive this is a descent album with some good elements.Although some times it becomes boring u cant deny that its atmospheric and intense at times.Non the less this cant be compared to the old aborted but to a neutral death metal fan this sould sound fine.
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