EP REVIEW: Termination Redux – Aborted

WORDS: Tim Redman

ABORTED have been spewing their own particular brand of putrid death metal since the late-90s almost unchanged. While perhaps not the most original stylistically, it is difficult to deny the band know what they’re doing and with their last two albums (2012’s Global Flatline and 2014’s The Necrotic Manifesto) the band has started to relentlessly pull itself up into the major leagues of death metal. Released at the very start of 2016 the new Termination Redux is a teaser of what can be expected from a new album in the near future.

A short EP Termination Redux features only four tracks and a short introduction and clocks in at barely a quarter of an hour, perfect for a teaser EP. The introduction Liberate Me Ex Inferis does what it needs to do and sets the listener up for what is to come. Termination Redux, the album’s title track, kicks straight in with a hail of blastbeats and the characteristic heaviness ABORTED are known for. The track barely lets up throughout its three and a half minute run time, with chugging guitars and pounding rhythm from the drums providing the perfect accompaniment for the vocals of long term frontman Sven de Caluwe.

The second track on the EP’s first side is titled Vestal Disfigurement Upon The Sacred Chantry. Slightly slower and more grove orientated at points, the track still blasts along at a good pace with the slower segments allowing the skill of the musicians involved to shine through. Flipping the EP, the third track on offer is Bound In Acrimony. The shortest track on an already short EP, it still packs a punch with the best riff on the EP on offer here. A short period of spoken word in the middle of the track only adds to its effectiveness. The final track on the EP is a re-recording of a track from ABORTED’s second album suitably titled The Holocaust Re-Incarnate. The longest song on offer here at over five minutes it is also the most generic. While by no means a bad track, it simply does not hold up well against the others on offer here, especially considering the length of the EP.

ABORTED’s Termination Redux is a nice little EP that helps to remind listeners precisely why the band is on its way up. You get four songs of proper death metal, no frills or experimentation, and it leaves you wanting more. Which is no doubt exactly what the band are hoping for.

Rating: 7/10

Termination Redux is set for release on January 15th via Century Media Records.