ALBUM REVIEW: Aborted From Reality – Static Abyss
For long time fans of death metal, the name Chris Reifert will be all too familiar; as the founder and driving force of AUTOPSY, the man is arguably one of the most important figures within death metal’s early days, forging a sound that blended imposing death-doom with some harder, harsher qualities, giving the Californians a powerful and timeless sound that has served them well for almost four whole decades. Never one to rest on his laurels, he’s also involved in a slew of great acts that consistently put out excellent music with a surprising speed. One of these acts is STATIC ABYSS, a band forged by Reifert and AUTOPSY‘s new bassist, the talented Greg Wilkinson, back in 2021, with the pair quickly establishing their song-writing pedigree with 2022’s Labyrinth Of Veins, a stunning record that had a lot of musical promise. Now, little over a year later, the band are back with Aborted From Reality, a record that is, if anything, even more impressive than its predecessor.
Aborted From Reality is a meaty slab of death metal with dense guitars, frenetic drums and caustic vocals creating an imposing and ferocious start to the record that manages to keep one foot firmly planted within old school death metal without sounding stale. Wormskinned leans heavily into the monstrous death-doom elements that were prevalent throughout the preceding track, with jarring leads providing many of the best hooks. The hazy production accentuates the musical claustrophobia, serving as a dramatic, imaginative take on a classic style.
Cathedral Of Vomit is another sombre, brooding offering with slower, slicker guitar work and steady drums; it crafts a haunting sound, maintaining a crawling, ponderous pace, with short, sharp shocks peppered in for good measure, playing up the cinematic qualities of both Reifert and Wilkinson‘s musicianship. Cerebral Ghost, by contrast, is a blistering, angular piece of demented death metal that perfectly zones in on the pair’s bestial side whilst providing space for bleak, mid-paced passages within the song’s bridge that drags the momentum to a dirge, adding to the effect of this fantastically visceral track.
Mind Tentacles, a brief, brutal chunk of rhythmic, unhinged death metal, is another fleeting yet fierce affair that ratchets the belligerence up to new heights, making this relatively brief track stand out for the best reasons. Poisoned Limbs, an even shorter piece, adopts a similar formula, but spices things up with polished melodic leads that turn this into a punchier, more memorable number in spite of its blink and you’ll miss it length. Horizon Of Cremains reverts to a doomier, funereal pace, with melancholic guitar flourishes and grating vocals again being the focal point. Crosses And Coffins, an energetic tune with a punky beat and primitive guitars, is another great example of how STATIC ABYSS are able to develop grand sounding death metal from even the most rudimentary and primal of ingredients, proving to be one of the most primal, chaotic additions to this album.
Unrepentant Mutant Serpent is another great effort that showcases Wilkinson‘s more discordant riffing style, with the jarring touches bringing this track to life and making it sound sinister, along with the bellowing vocals and thunderous drums, crafting another dark and disjointed masterclass in classic death-doom. Dehumanized, another magnificent interlude with chunky hooks, punishing percussion and acerbic vocal performances, shows that this band are perhaps at their most noxious when they are at their fastest. The Static Abyss closes this album with a cavernous, domineering slab of off-kilter death-doom with some especially acidic snarling vocals that add a biting edge to a fairly weighty offering, bringing things to a head in a bombastic yet nauseating fashion.
Much like any of Chris Reifert or Greg Wilkinson‘s other side projects, there’s a lot more attention to detail than you would expect, with many of these songs feeling worthy of an AUTOPSY record. Speaking of that band, there’s more than a slight hint of AUTOPSY‘s key tropes within this album, but considering it’s two thirds of them, that’s hardly surprising. The brilliant mix of sludgy death-doom and the more rabid sections makes this an incredibly engrossing and impactful record, and serves as a fantastic continuation of the sound the band created on Labyrinth Of Veins, albeit with a harsher, rawer mix that lends a dirtier edge to proceedings. For a side project, STATIC ABYSS possesses a depth and impressive sound that means that this is a band, and indeed an album, that is well worth wider attention.
Rating: 8/10
Aborted From Reality is out now via Peaceville Records.
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