“Behold the reckoning.”
After 29 years of being a band with as many line-up changes as they have had, you would expect a band like Aborted to want to throw in the towel and call it a day. But vocalist and sole remaining orignal member Sven De Caluwé resolved long ago to weather the often hectic world of death metal and continue on the Aborted name, and make that name one of the most well known in the death metal world. And succeed in that goal he has, as Aborted are easily one of the most well known bands in the genre of deathgrind and the wider death metal world as a whole.
Over the years, Aborted have completely mastered the art of melding the savage brutality of death metal with the unforgiving speed that you would expect from a deathgrind band, and Vault of Horrors is no different. Every riff on this album is absolutely massive and is performed with an almost surgical precision that is sure to cause an absolute beatdown in the pit if any of these songs are played at shows. They absolutely should be, as I truly think that this is Aborted‘s best album. When listening to this album for the purpose of this review I had intended to listen to it a couple of times and take a break, but after the first time listening to it i found myself absolutely craving a second listen. With each successive listen I started to love it even more whilst discovering more tiny details to love about the record. The killer feature of this album that sets this album apart from their others is how they have seamlessly added the features to the various grindcore bits and occasional deathcore-esque breakdown this album contains, to turn an already varied amalgamation of the different facets of their sound even better.
Being a band for as long as Aborted have been, you’re going to have a lot of high expectations for the quality of the features contained on the album (especially when you have one on every song) and they definitely made sure they got the massive results you’d hope for. Starting off with “Condemned to Rot”, featuring Francesco Paoli of the symphonic death metal band Fleshgod Apocalypse, we see the album’s stalwart approach to its features, where the guest trades off with De Caluwé for about 20 seconds of the song’s run time. Featuring some of Paoli’s strongest growls, the feature sends an already massive sound into the stratosphere. It’s exactly what you would want from a feature from a band of this calibre. Next, Matt McGachy of the legendary technical death metal band Cryptopsy on the track “Hellborn” – to say that this song is savage would be an understatement, I don’t think I’ve heard vocals from either vocalist sound as brutal as they do here; a seriously impressive feat for both vocalists who have been in this genre as long as they have. Moving on to “Insect Politics” featuring Jason Evans of Ingested, we have some of the fastest vocal trade-offs I’ve heard in a long time. If you’ve been longing for Aborted to really sink into the grindcore part of their sound, then this song is the song for you. Rounding off the features from death metal vocalists we have Oliver Rae Aleron of Canadian tech death band Archspire on “The Shape of Hate“, doing his signature move of matching the speed of his vocals to the speed of the riffs, in a way that would put djent vocalists to shame.
A slew of Vault of Horror’s features come from deathcore bands. Album opener and second single “Dreadbringer” includes Ben Duerr from the bandShadow of Intent. It’s his second feature for Aborted in general, and he brings his love for traditional death metal into this feature. Being the opening track, it really set the tone for the album’s features – when they hit, they hit like a brick. Duerr’s lows really compliment De Caluwé’s excellent gutturals and make a slower paced song like “Dreadbringer” is hit even harder. Speaking of features hitting hard, we have an excellent feature from veteran deathcore band Despised Icon’sAlex Erian on the lead single “Death Cult“. This brings a massive hardcore feel to the album and a refreshing change of pace at the record’s mid point. More savage features come from Johnny Ciardullo of AngelMaker andCarcosa on “Brotherhood of Sleep” and Ricky Hoover of Ov Sulfur and formally Suffokate on closer “Malevolent Haze“. These are two of my favourites, bringing such savage breakdowns to the album that are sure to make people who wouldn’t normally give deathcore vocalists a chance turn their heads. They truly make already amazing tracks even better and will definitely be fan favourites.
The majority of the tracks features work to the albums favour, however, a couple unfortunately do not work out. “Naturom Demonoto” features Signs of the Swarm‘s David Simonich, but it feels like he is barely audible in the track. That is a shame because they are definitely one of my favourite deathcore bands, and this could have been a big moment for him to be on a band as legendary as Aborted. Simonich’s voice should have been a bit more visible within the track to really spotlight what a talented vocalist he is. At the other end of the spectrum we have Hal Microutsicos of Blasphemous‘s feature, which feels so loud and out of place that it almost ruins the song’s otherwise flawless execution.
Overall the successes of Vault of Horrors should not be go unnoticed. Rather than sound like a rusted car that needs to be retired like some of the older death metal bands at this point in their careers, Vault Of Horrors refreshes Aborted’s sound yet again, with lovely showcases of some death metal and deathcore’s top vocal talents. Vault of Horrors is a showcase of the next generation of vocalists that anybody that into heavy music should keep their eye on. In closing, if this album is what Aborted continues to be capable of, then we shouldn’t be surprised if they make it to 40 years as a band.
8.5/10
Vault Of Horrors releases on March 15th via Century Media Records and can be pre-ordered here.