Aborted: Laughing In The Face of Terror

Since their inception, death metal band ABORTED have tackled serious issues which surround us. They’ll look at something going on and find a way to be influenced by it, resulting in some of the filthiest and heaviest songs that have gained them their fanbase. With the release of their latest album ManiaCult, the influence has been something we have all experienced on a global scale, to be directly involved and living in the reality of a pandemic has been strange and terrifying to say the least. Which is why it comes as no surprise that living through one of the darkest periods in our lifetime would have meant being graced with one of the heaviest records the band have put out to date.

“I like to think of this record as a synthesis, a musical synthesis as cliché as it sounds, between the old ABORTED and the new ABORTED,” bassist Stefano Franceschini mentions. “I think the evolution is more like a conservation based phase, a result of what we wanted to be like in the first place with the new music. It’s trying to combine the melody of the last two – three records with the old school era.”

Thankfully, the recording process of the album wasn’t impacted too greatly due to the fact the band all live in different parts of the world. Franceschini enthuses that even though nothing significantly changed for them in that record, the band gained a perspective on just what was going to happen in the live arts industry. “It [COVID-19] didn’t mess much with our plans, but it also gave us a little perspective as to what the music industry was getting into, and I’m not just talking about the bands of course, but also he whole entertainment apparatus crew members, the venue owners, the promoters, anyone literally within the industry.”

That perspective and watching how the industry was falling to its knees has understandably kept Franceschini humble about his position in ABORTED. In some ways, it serves as another reminder why their constant evolution is important now more than ever. “I like to think of myself as a lucky person. I was able to work with my band members on new music, a new record and it’s been welcomed so far.”

Aforementioned, ABORTED tackle serious issues in their music, ManiaCult bares no difference as it goes head first into the world of mental illness and the hysteria caused by some of our leaders. COVID-19 was never meant to be the main go-to talking point when writing the album, but eerily it becomes relatable to most of the albums lyrical themes. Having discussed living through the pandemic and how it felt almost like an episode of Black Mirror, the album’s themes are almost like going through a never-ending revolving door of not knowing whether or not the past two years have been reality or a dystopian dream.

“It’s a little bit of a response to the pandemic, but it’s not really focused on the centre of that. We do have a few songs, if you watch the video for ManiaCult, the title track, it toys a little bit with the informational hysteria, as I like to call it, people literally freaking out over anything they’ve read online or without actually spending some time and doing proper research.” Franceschini continues, “I would say that the record kind of revolves around mental illness in general and the issue of many relations, whether it be you need help, or socials or just other people you know who were able to get a grasp on mental stability and kind of manipulate you.”

“It kind of reflects marginally what happened in the last two years,” he says. “Everybody showed people’s true colours. It was a huge social and psychological and relational gateway. So yeah, it kind of impacted the record a little bit!”

The band may go for the hard-hitting issues in the world, but they certainly try to see it from a light-hearted point of view. In a way, it makes them more relatable because here they are speaking their minds, but at the same time, they’re showing that it’s okay to have a joke about it once in a while, it’s okay to have that ethos of ‘if you don’t laugh, you’ll cry’. Despite that, even for ABORTED, for once they found it weird in dealing with the pandemic on a lighter note. “The very first month we were dealing with the pandemic, it was really weird. Like, how could you deal with that in a more light-hearted way?”

ManiaCult sees ABORTED step up as a band yet again, constantly tightening their reins on being one of the best bands in the game. Their sound is evidently constantly improving, but their attitude to issues, regardless of how hard it may be, makes them one of the most relatable bands out there. How they have tackled this album process whilst maintaining their own wellbeing during the toughest time we have endured as a generation is a testament to what they do as ABORTED.

ManiaCult is out now via Century Media Records.

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