Abysmal Torment - Omnicide (Brutal Bands; 2009)

There's been a lot of posts about news and not about many reviews here at Slam-Minded recently. Part of this is my fault as I haven't bought any new CDs since February in anticipation of spending too much money at Maryland Deathfest. To rectify this situation and hold me over until I can buy it at MDF I downloaded Abysmal Torment's new album Omnicide.

Abysmal Torment play what I like to call "fast slam" and come from the small Mediterranean island nation of Malta. Omnicide is their second album. They have also released an EP called Incised Wound Suicide in 2004 and a full length called called Epoch of Methodical Carnage in 2006.

From my talks with other brutal death fans it seems Omnicide is getting mixed reviews. Some people like it but a lot of people seem disappointed. To be honest this surprised me because I think Omnicide sounds really good. It sounds a little different than Epoch of Methodical Carnage, but keeps the fast slams that made that album good.

By fast slam I mean bands that use lots of time changes, breakdowns and grooves but are faster than your average slam band. Besides Abysmal Torment I'd say bands like Decaying Purity and Cenotaph count as fast slam. Omnicide has a lot of these fast slams although not as many as the last album. Instead Abysmal Torment have moved in a slightly more melodic direction (in the Inveracity/Deeds of Flesh sense). I think this is a good move as it makes their sound bigger and more varied. There are also a lot of good stop-start slams in this album which kind of remind me of Poppy Seed Grinder although Abysmal Torment never reaches the level of extreme groove that PSG does. Nick Farrugia's vocals are above average and remind me of Phlegeton (Wormed, Human Mincer). Another positive is that this album is 45 minutes long, which makes me happy considering the average slam album often struggles to reach 30 minutes.

A problem I have with Omnicide is the production. It is a little punchless and I feel it takes away from the large feeling that the riffs create. The mixing is also a little weird. The bass guitar is pretty hard to hear at times while the bass drums are a bit too high in the mix. These problems don't really affect the album that much, but I think I would've enjoyed it a little more had it had a really thick, bassy production.

Despite the negative opinions that are floating around about it I'd recommend Omnicide. It's a very solid effort from a veteran band.