Band:	Coathanger Abortion
Album:	Observations Of Humanity
Style:	Deathgrind
Release date:	June 02, 2015
A review by:	Ilham

01. Suffering The Weak
02. Media Mindsnare
03. Wading Through Existence
04. Prescription Paradise
05. Coathanger Abortion
06. The Possession
07. Audra Sleeps
08. Forget The Past
09. Hypocritical Majority
10. Detained Indefinitely

This is a review for Coathanger Abortion, and it felt exactly like one.

Okay perhaps not exactly - you know me, I like my hyperboles.

I'm pretty sure the cover and name have given you more than just a hint towards the breed of metal we're dealing with. To be more specific than the stereotypes, Coathanger Abortion plays a kind of traditional mid-tempo brutal death metal that wouldn't have sounded anachronistic if it were released at the end of the '90s, maybe early '00s.

And to be honest, it feels as if some pieces from the album were actually recorded around that time and thrown in with newer songs. The first thing that struck me was the inconsistent quality of sound in this record. A couple of tracks in the first half sound as if they had been put there to test the patience and fidelity of the listeners. Yes, I am looking at you, "Suffering The Weak" and "Wading Though Existence" in particular, be ashamed. Half-menacing repetitive tracks with shy drums, a bass too loud in the mix - yes you heard me, "too" - and the most monotonous vocal work possible for the genre. What an embarrassing welcoming committee.

Thankfully, the real Coathanger Abortion reveals itself with "Prescription Paradise". The balance in the mix is re-established, the a-bit-muddy-but-not-on-purpose production clears up a little, and the tracks just start bringing it ON. Even the technical level of the instrumentation is raised, and reaches its height with the excellent ending to "Forget The Past". By the end of the emotional mini-rollercoaster that this sophomore release has become, one could even be found slightly head-bobbing to the successive deluge of methodical violence.

Unfortunately, Observations Of Humanity inevitably suffers from its lack of new ideas, even if I can't blame brutal death for being brutal death. It shows even in the structure of the opus, as once again we have the usual funny/gory/declamatory movie sample setting the tone for most of the songs. Just as you guessed, without fail, we were also blessed with a completely useless and out of place acoustic interlude.

I'll now proceed to close this review with the mandatory apologetic and overly long sentence that tries to underline and inflate the few qualities of the album, even if I know I'm not very convincing: "it's kinda good, but still kinda meh".