ALBUM REVIEW: Abominate – Firespawn

With a band that boasts as much pedigree as FIRESPAWN, there comes a certain expectation – an expectation that is rarely fulfilled. With members who have served time in legendary bands such as ENTOMBED, DARK FUNERAL, NECROPHOBIC, UNLEASHED, NAGLFAR, DIMMU BORGIR, SATYRICON and WITCHERY, either as full, contributing members or live, session musicians, it’s incredibly easy to put FIRESPAWN on a pedestal that they will never quite reach. However, the “supergroup” has already delivered two incredibly fun, incredibly strong LPs, and are set to add their blistering third record, Abominate, into the fold as well. Does Abominate live up to – or, perhaps, even surpass – expectations, or does it crumble under their weight?

FIRESPAWN waste absolutely no time in stamping down their collective authority with video single The Gallows End. Opening with a sample of a public hanging, The Gallows End quickly drops into the absolutely crushing death metal FIRESPAWN have made their bread and butter for the last half-decade. ENTOMBED A.D. front man LG Petrov growls with pure vitriol, building to a hook-heavy chorus. Later in The Gallows End, he takes a wild left turn in his vocal delivery, bringing Gregorian chanting into his repertoire. The Gallows End fades out, and with little offering of respite, Death & Damnation thunders in, showcasing some sinister riffing and dynamic drum work from Matte Modin. Slipping between thrashy, up tempo blasts and the doomier, evil sounding chorus, Death & Damnation promises to be a live favourite. Abominate‘s title track follows bringing a dirge-like, stomping groove along for the ride, proving to be one of the stand out songs from it’s namesake.

With Abominate well and truly in full swing, Heathen Blood blasts its way in and immediately marks itself as a highlight of the album. Petrov‘s iconic growls work wonderfully in unison with the blistering riffs from Victor Brandt and Fredrik Folkare, his delivery quickening and slowly with the tempo. Heathen Blood‘s chorus worms its way into the listener’s subconscious, repeating long after the record stops spinning. The short interlude of Cold Void breaks up the two lead singles from Abominate – The Great One and The Hunter. Where the former rumbles onward with classic HM-2 riffing, relentless double bass and a haunting atmosphere, the latter brings a heavy dose of traditional metal into the foray, hinting at the musical direction FIRESPAWN are setting their sights on for the future.

Godlessness kicks in like a mule, retaining a healthy level of the more traditional heavy metal songwriting of The Hunter while Blind Kingdom bulldozes Abominate towards its finale with crushing heaviness and neck-snapping groove in equal measure. Bringing this titan of an album to close, FIRESPAWN deliver the crushing one-two of The Undertaker and Black Wings Of The Apocalypse. The Undertake grinds its way through its relatively short run time, dropping hooks and HM-2 goodness aplenty along the way, before Black Wings Of The Apocalypse ends Abominate on a high energy blast of pure morbid enjoyment.

The mark of Folkare‘s songwriting isn’t scattered throughout Abominate, so much as it’s embedded into its soul. Always leaning more towards the traditional works of JUDAS PRIEST, IRON MAIDEN and SAXON more than those of DEATH, MORBID ANGEL and OBITUARY, Folkare has taken the already-strong songwriting of FIRESPAWN to the next level – and Abominate is all the more dynamic, memorable and game-changing for it. This bleeds into his lead work throughout the album, from the little flourishes in The Great One to the blistering solos in Blind Kingdom, Death & Damnation and album highlight Heathen Blood. The creative partnership between Folkare and Brandt is set to rocket FIRESPAWN from a fun side-project to a fully fledged band in its own right in absolutely no time.

There is no doubt that FIRESPAWN have reached their creative zenith with Abominate. For the majority of their short career, the band have been a bit of a contradiction. Their first two albums were strong, and a joy to listen to, but ultimately felt a bit redundant – it was nothing wildly different from the bulk of the Swedish death metal scene the heavy metal world has come to revere. All of that changes with Abominate. As the band have grown together the song-writing has tightened up considerably, and the addition of Folkare‘s traditional metal flourishes into their arsenal brings a more unique sound than FIRESPAWN have flirted with before. In retrospect, it feels like Shadow Realms and The Reprobate, for all their own strengths, were merely precursors to Abominate – this is where we see FIRESPAWN coming into their own, and the death metal scene at large is theirs for domination.

Rating: 8/10

Abominate is set for release on June 7th via Century Media Records. 

Like FIRESPAWN on Facebook.