Abominable Putridity – The Anomalies of Artificial Origin
Although Abominable Putridity is considered a slamming death metal band and their debut is completely in this style, the technical fretwork and constant time changes on The Anomalies of Artificial Origin overpower the slam and dominate the major part of this album.
Still, I dig this record. Especially the opener and ‘Letting Them Fall’ and ‘The Last Communion,’ but there are two things that keep it from being truly special.
The first problem is that Abominable Putridity seems to be stuck on this arrangement concept— “Play the riff twice and move on.” So instead of well-arranged music where each part is given unique and meritorious amounts of time to develop, far too often, AP just give you the lick twice and jump to the next idea, which they play twice (and so on…). They don’t always do this, but they do it far more often than they should. In a way, it is like riff prison.
The other problem is that the singer, Matti Way, sings way, way, way, way, way too much. He’s just overselling his role, and often clutters up the mix when other far more interesting things are happening with the other instruments. There are way too many lyrics, and since he enunciates more than others in the genre, its just feels crammed in there.
There are a lot of riffing techniques on display on Anomalies…, from technical sweeps to chugs, a lot of pretty good stuff, though none of it’s great. Easily the best trick in the AP bag is the syncopated start stop chugging where the bottom drops out and the material opens up with some silence. I wish these ideas were more fully exploited—like tenfold—since they are almost all of the best moments on the album (hear those gaping chasms in the first cut and ‘Letting Them Fall’). Also, the bass drops/woofer kicks that precede some the breaks are cool.
Again, I like this album. In the End of Human Existence, their first album, had better arrangements, but this one has better riffs. Both have good musicianship, but the simpler debut felt like a real band playing whereas this feels like a studio creation (things like bass drops do that). The vocals on the debut were mostly solid, though wholly unmemorable gurgles, and here they are far more interesting, but often distracting and overdone. So yeah, Abominable Putridity changed a lot, and sound like a totally different band, and got a little bit better.
They have real skills, ideas and fire, but for them to achieve an album that truly matches the my favorite slamming death metal acts—Begging for Incest, Putrid Pile, Dystentery and Kraanium—they need to learn how to better arrange their material and restrain their singer.
The Anomalies of Artificial Origin is a fun album, but one that is less than the sum of its parts. -S. Craig Zahler
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