Review by Paul Castles
Release date: 24 June 2014
Abbadon Incarnate have been operating at the extreme end of the Irish music scene for around two decades, during which they’ve gone through a few of the almost obligatory line-up changes. They have a number of releases behind them and new album Pessimist is their fifth full length album. For diehard fans there’s been a bit of a wait for Abbadon Incarnate’s Celtic brand of Molotov mayhem to return. Cascade helped give the band a profile lift in 2009 but having now signed up with Candlelight Records, Pessimist should gain themselves a few more admirers.
On Pessimist Abbadon Incarnate nail their blood splattered colours to the mast right from the off with the explosive title track instantly igniting with unbridled fury. There are 14 hate-filled songs here most kicking in (literally!) at around two to three minutes; the entire album clocking around 36 minutes. It’s fair to say Abbadon Incarnate are a band in a hurry. The first three tracks kind of fly by in a blur. It’s a bit like trying to read the signage on a train as it powers through a station without stopping.
The first pause for breath comes in ‘Warping the Necrospawn’ in which some super steak sized blast beats briefly cool the fires, whilst simultaneously packing more meat than a butcher’s Sunday market stall. Abbadon Incarnate flicker between the full scale throttle of old school punk, as played by the likes of Discharge, with more modern grindcore elements wrapped up within.
Throughout, the double vocal approach works well with the deeper darker delivery topped off by the maniacal distressed screeching. On the slightly longer tracks such as ‘Fear’ and the pounding ‘Morbid Epiphany’ the impassioned Irish quartet grant themselves licence to build the momentum at a steadier pace, raising the tension a notch or two in the process. ‘Fear’ features the best riff on the album a throbbing hulk of a neckcruncher that merely rubberstamps Abbadon Incarnate’s reputation as a Gallic grind great.
Apparently when the original crew got together 20 years ago, from the ashes of Bereaved, the intention was simply to become the fastest and most brutal bunch in Ireland. Well, Pessimist would suggest that that particular ambition can just about be chalked off the bucket list. The recording was wrapped up in three days to enable the band’s staple diet of raw aggression to be captured without losing too much of their natural fire and brimstone. The vocals were canned pretty much straight off the bat ensuring that the spiky-topped 70s punk spirit is embedded through Abbadon Incarnate’s savage sound.
Songs like ‘Solstice of Homicide’ are explosive cases packed with more fireworks than Hong Kong harbour on New Year’s Eve. The lyrics scream horror and hatred while the rhythms and drums carry about as much tenderness and love as a wolf might show when presented with a lame rabbit. If you’re a fan of knuckleduster brutality coming at you with all the finesse of a bag of cement then it’s time to make friends with Abbadon Incarnate.
7 out of 10
Track Listing:
- Pessimist
- Aborted Genesis
- Vester Hara
- Warping the Necrospawn
- Broken Spectre
- Fear
- Impaled Upon Your Zodiac
- Prison of Introspection
- Nameless Grave
- Morbid Epiphany
- Solstice of Homicide
- Undead Outcasts
- Funeral Hag
- Summoning Famine – Inherit an Empty World
