Abominable Putridity - In The End Of Human Existence - 2008 - Lacerated Enemy Records

Well, here we have the first big slam album to come out in 2008 (there is some controversy as to whether it is '07 or '08 but whatever)! Russia is really the last place you'd expect to find good slam, right? Wrong, because we wrote an article a while back about the Russian slam scene and it's pretty much alive and kicking in various corners including Moscow (where AP are from) and St. Petersburg.

Kicking off with an ambient and freaky sample which definitely brings the imagery of the cover art to life (creaking doors, quiet industrial rattling, pneumatic drill sounds, etc.), the music abruptly cuts in with a mid-paced slam the likes of which everyone in this scene has heard before. However, the immediate thing to notice is the FANTASTIC heavy, living and well-mixed production value. Somewhere between a Deeds of Flesh guitar-wash assault and a Devourment muffled bass slam style sound, this production really works well and lets the music breathe.

...and we really do want stuff like this to breathe. Absolutely epic slam breakdowns turn into shifting drum fills with enough references to NYDM and TXDM brutality to keep you banging your head...but there's also a playful almost technical groovy side which shows its head in the beginning of the second track "Entrails Full of Vermin". Though everyone's heard this track already because it was on their demo a year ago, the really warm, vibrant mixing aspect brings out the grooving bass drops and great kick drum work. Some of the slams are written in kind of a weird way which breaks from the typical chun-chun breakdown riff, but a lot of the time we're stuck with the really obvious Devourment clone-yet-not-quite sound that we know and love. Halfway through "Blindfold Surgery" there's a section destined to become one of my favorite rhythmic parts in death metal this year, utilizing almost melodically-arranged chords in a sustained manner instead of muting them. There's an overall really tasteful use of subtle interesting parts which make it very different from the typical Inhuman Dissiliency or Cephalotripsy uber-slow-mo slam death (no slight to that style because it's also very good!). Overall, I'm very impressed with the songwriting here; these guys can steal grooves like the best of 'em, but they also know how to do their own thing when it's called for, and I can really respect that!

Right in the middle of the album is a minute-long sample track called "Dissected From Within" which is pretty disturbing in all its squishy-squirmy glory, with aforementioned echoing creaky door sounds in abundance. I really like the placement of this on the album...and have you ever heard Devourment put something atmospheric and smartly placed on one of their discs? Yeah, didn't think so. Next up is the best title ever, "Throat Fisting Abortion" with a simplistic groove that really hits home with me, but around half a minute in is a super-trudging 60 BPM funeral slam...fucking awesome. Then they pick up the pace again and barrel through another few minutes of great stuff before hitting "Victims Stuffed With Nails" which assaults the listener with tempo breaks galore, never really going to fast mode (though there are blasts, they are pretty restrained, only a few seconds of gravity blast-type stuff), but not really staying at the same mid-pace either.

No song here breaks the 3 minute mark (the first song is 3:10 but has that ambient passage in the beginning so the music doesn't start until like a minute in), but I wouldn't have it any other way. AP knows how to write a song and stop it when the idea's getting tiring, opening the next one with an equally heavy-handed groove or excellent drum fill. I really got into this album when I first heard it; so much that I listened around 10 times in a row. At 26 minutes, I felt like I really could just sit with it on repeat to get fully into all of the corners of the rhythms. Maybe I'm insane, but I'm sure that's fine with most people reading this. I look forward to amazing things from this band, and from all of Mother Russia!