Written by:	Abattoir
Published:	December 24, 2018
Event:	Aborted: Hell Over Europe 2018 - Part II
Location:	Orto Bar, Ljubljana, Slovenia

A lovely November Tuesday night, a normal working day to follow for us average people, and a crazy package of extreme metal groups. This tour combined four bands that are inclined towards the same goal regarding their musical (genre/sub-genre) tendencies. Germans Cytotoxin, crazy French bastards Benighted, Canadians Cryptopsy, and Belgian grinding machine Aborted, this time performing as a headliner on this European trek.

Cytotoxin had the honour of opening the evening. Though I'm not familiar with their work at all, nonetheless, I'm always excited to see/hear something new live. Speaking of crazy - the fast pace of drums and shredding guitars, punching in with couple of solos here and there, and impregnated with vicious, strong growls, coming from their 'big-man' vocalist Grimo. He was also the one who was engaging the crowd as much as he could, and the response was immediate, a wild one. Cytotoxin showed up as a very decent live performing act, definitely worthy of this line-up. I can undoubtedly confirm that the warm-up, which was actually more than that, succeeded.

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Following were (my favourites from this line-up) Benighted, masters of providing stunning and smashing performances every time they hit the stage. With a charismatic vocalist leading in front - Julien Truchan, who really is a beast and explicitly shows the range of his extreme vocal abilities - and full-on support from the rest of the guys, this is just?huh, a burst of orgasmic experience for not only your aural senses, but the whole body system. Unfortunately, only a half-hour set went by fast, containing also a couple of tracks from their recent EP, Dogs Always Bite Harder Than Their Master. Being a fan of their live performances, I can tell you that Benighted are more than a sure thing, if you are up for a meal of extreme metal specialty.

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Montreal-based death metal veterans Cryptopsy hit the stage next. Of all the bands appearing on this event, they were probably the least intriguing to me; it's true, however, that I was never really impressed with their music in first place. For me, this was first time seeing this band live, and I can say that they put out a solid, professional performance; nothing groundbreaking and memorable, though. Maybe a bit less static attitude could help to raise the level of performance generally. Cryptopsy's appearance lasted for about 45 minutes, in which they played mostly stuff (half-set) from their most-acclaimed effort from their discography: None So Vile. The band also presented a couple of new tracks from their latest EP release, The Book Of Suffering - Tome II. Though they left a bit of a less-impressed crowd and not that "vile" a performance compared to their predecessor, my hyper-dosed feelings (from Benighted) still weren't affected too much.

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So, attacking next and the last on the bill were Belgian death metal metallers Aborted, the headliners and main act of the evening. As is already known, the band was touring in support of their latest effort, TerrorVision, released on September 21st. And as you can see (below), the set list contained almost half of the tracks from this album. It is worth mentioning that TerrorVision marks Aborted's 10th studio album and it seems that it has been received quite well, judging from the feedback of the crowd. Personally, this was my first time seeing them live; I did, however, predict what kind of performance to expect, what to see on the stage in some ways. And I did enjoy it, not in such magnitude as a majority of the crowd, who were attending this gig mainly because of them, but it was still a hardcore performance from an experienced band. The leading force in front was vocalist Sven de Caluwé, a real beast on the stage, restless, full of energy and stimulating the crowd through the whole set to raise the tempo and madness. Aborted spiced and enriched their set with a double guest appearance on two tracks: first - on "Termination Redux " - joined by Julien Truchan (Benighted) and second - on "A Whore D'oeuvre Macabre" - by Grimo from Cytotoxin. From my perspective, it turned out pretty damn well. Something that all these guys have in common - a furious, assertive performance. And combining two on one stage is very much an intense experience. A solid, one-hour-long explosive performance ended with a positive reaction from the crowd.

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Closing thought. My overall impression after this gig could simply be put in this way. Cytotoxin did impress me positively as an opener and as a band that I've never heard of before. Benighted fulfilled my needs in every aspect of performance. Cryptopsy passed through quickly, being passive more or less to my senses. Aborted showed a massive dose of energy and relentless rampage on the stage, leaving a solid trace of this extreme metal night.

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A very special thanks for the contributed photos goes to Mr. Ale? Podbre?nik of Slovenian metal/rock music webzine rockline.si.