ABORTED – Vault Of Horrors

RELEASE YEAR: 2024
BAND URL: https://goremageddon.be/

The Belgium-founded gore death metal quartet, Aborted, is one of those bands which are not amongst my favorites yet which I, nevertheless, have had a special relationship with for over 17 years, beginning with their 5th full length, Slaughter & Apparatus: A Methodical Overture²⁰⁰⁷, which I had obtained via the now defunct used CD online trading store lala (kid you not). I liked the album so much (as it appears exactly for reasons it was hated by others) that I also got The Archaic Abattoir²⁰⁰⁴ which I liked a little less. What drew me to them was that they were a brutal gore death metal band who swayed a little toward melodic death metal, something they continue on at more epic (let’s not be afraid to use this word when it really applies) length on their 12th album, Vault Of Horrors²⁰²⁴, issued on March 15th via the mighty Nuclear Blast Records, an experimental yet very good affair with a phenomenal production by Dave Otero (Allegaeon, Archspire, Cattle Decapitation, Skinless) at his Denver Flatline Studios.

The act is actually considerably old, founded by Sven De Caluwé (vocals) in 1995 who, apparently, wasn’t doing much with it until 1997 when he was joined by Niek Verstraete (guitars-2002), Koen Verstraete (bass-2002) and Steven Logie (drums-1998) for The Necrotorous Chronicles¹⁹⁹⁸ demo actually released on a label (a very rare feat for a demo!), Esophagus Records, a recording which which allowed for the debut album, The Purity Of Perversion¹⁹⁹⁹, to be released on Uxicon Records, and, that in turn, opened the door for Listenable Records to walk right in for the next 3 albums, whereby Aborted issued two of their most popular and fan-loved albums, Engineering The Dead²⁰⁰¹ and Gormageddon: The Saw And The Carnage Done²⁰⁰³, albums which redefined the gore death genre, and, it was at this point that they decided to mix in a little melody resulting in the aforementioned “The Archaic Abattoir” (on Listenable) and “Slaughter & Apparatus”, (actually released via Century Media Records which specializes in melodeath), which were hated by many fanatics of the genre (but apparently not so much of Aborted) for that reason, albums which, again, I liked a lot and played the Hades out of in my car at the time. I was, however, disappointed, joining the dissenters, with the metalcorish Strichnine.213²⁰⁰⁸ (still on Century Media) and I thought that was the end of a promising band. That’s why I was pleasantly surprised by the brutal yet melodically balanced Global Flatline²⁰¹² (still on Century Media), and, especially, The Necrotic Manifesto²⁰¹⁴ (still on Century Media). Having, for various reasons, missed both Retro Gore²⁰¹⁶ and Terrorvision²⁰¹⁸ (on Century Media), I welcomed the development on the La Grande Mascarade²⁰²⁰ and, especially, Mania Cult²⁰²¹ (the last two records for Century Media) both of which I reviewed, and then, again, I forgot about Aborted until I received the promo of “Vault Of Horrors” noting the change from Century Media to Nuclear Blast, and I’m glad I did because the band continues to surprise.

How do they continue to surprise, you ask? Well, for starters, they have lyrically expanded their horizons while staying dead center in the gore death genre. Whereas previously the hymns of brutality were based on serial murderers, and horrors specifically related to torture and killing in the most gruesome ways imaginable (vide: “Strichnine.213” cover), this time, there’s no overarching theme but a sort of tribute to the horror movie genre (get the title now?). Accordingly, the lyrics are based on various horror movies such as John Carpenter’s “The Thing” (Dreadbringer), “Prince Of Darkness” (Brotherhood Of Sleep) and “Halloween” (The Shape Of Hate) as well Tony Randel’s “Hellbound: Hellraiser II” (Hellbound), David Cronenberg “The Fly” (Insect Politics), Tobe Hooper’s “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (Death Cult), Dan O’Bannon’s “The Return of the Living Dead” (Condemned To Rot), Lee Cronin’s “Evil Dead Rise” (Naturom Demonto), Frank Darabont’s “The Mist” (Malevolent Haze) and even Kevin Smith’s (!) “Dogma” (The Golgothan), which was not a horror but a hilarious parody of Roman Catholicism (get the progress?), all of which contributes to the music becoming more cinematic, more than ever before. The album is full of samples related to respective movies and the music is also shaped in each track to fit the corresponding movie.

Over the years, Caluwé, the driving force behind the machine that is Aborted, has grown as a vocalist, still, of course, dominating with his horrifying “puking while battling severe throat cancer” patented growls but also hardcore screaming and, apparently, using occasional clean vocals, however sporadically. Nowadays, Aborted is no longer just a Belgian band, featuring Californian drummer Kenneth Steven Bedene (2010-present), former Abysmal Dawn and Abigail Williams Californian guitarist Ian Jekelis (2015-guitars), but now, Jekelis no longer handles all guitars, sharing duties and burdens with Icelandic guitarist Daníel Máni Konráðsson (2022-present), which has added more depth to the music as there is simply more you can do with two guitarists instead of one. That can be most notably heard on the great “The Golgothan” which is literally one hell of a track, a symphonic metal monster (that could have been better with a bit more focus), but we already get properly sucker punched by the opening “Dreadbringer” where we discover how Caluvé & Co. are in love with the now sadly defunct The Black Dahlia Murder, but, then again, maybe they have loved them since “The Archaic Abattoir”? In any case, I’m not complaining as it adds catchiness to what is, essentially, still, brutally extreme music, not for the faint of heart (pacemaker owners need not apply either), something you become painfully aware of in the under minute Armageddon, “Insect Politics”, where I seriously started worrying about my mental health, remembering my stepfather warning me about the dangers of death metal to the brain via earphones, myself a death metal fan since 1993 (thanks to Death’s Individual Thought Patterns¹⁹⁹³) just barely 2 years after having fallen in love with Iron Maiden. As for Aborted, they know how to take early Machine Heady groove riff and appropriate it to add variety to constant battering of fists (Hellbound) or give Misery Index a run for their money in terms of driving catchy rhythm while heavily utilizing Fear Factorish keys atmospherics to add, well, to the horror (Naturom Demonto) but it is the closer “Malevolent Haze” where my jaw firmly hits the floor as halfway through the Ulcerative pounding (2:40) a… slow progressive break ensues, started by balladic guitars but then a quick solo and a heavy epic riff usher very heavy atmospherics, marching drums, and the album ends in a truly epic fashion.

Not all is great, as there’s still plenty of, in my view, needless noise of which only value seems to be the realization that you’re really using good earbuds and that, because of the fantastic production, you can still discern this from that (Condemned To Rot, Insect Politics) howbeit with an admirable use of deafening Esoteric doom riffs (Brotherhood Of Sleep), and then, some tracks (Death Cult) just could use a little uplift to match the standouts quality, although “The Shape Of Hate” is not that far from the desired outcome. I disagree with some of the reviewers on Encyklopedia Metallum who panned the record for “too much deathcore”, as I find that a positive development, however, having said that, I have a feeling like Aborted still could have pushed these 10 tracks a bit harder progressively, which, I’m sure they will on future endeavors. So, not exactly magnum opus (that would be “Necrotic Manifesto”) but great stuff.

Indeed, where will they go from there is anyone’s guess but we all love a happy foreshadowing, don’t we? In this case, it comes in the form of a brand new (that is, post album) single “The Pain, Will Be Exquisite” (featuring a cover with a bloody logo and an imagination activating image that will likely leave me disturbed for days) released on January 28th on their bandcamp. So, on a parting note, I have heard it and instantly gave it 6/6 without a shadow of a doubt, as it has everything that I felt was missing from “The Vault Of Horrors”.