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Aborym - Psychogrotesque review



Reviewer:
9.0

41 users:
6.88
Band: Aborym
Album: Psychogrotesque
Release date: November 2010


01. I
02. II
03. III
04. IV
05. V
06. VI
07. VII
08. VIII
09. IX
10. X

In my book, from what I've seen throughout the years, Aborym is a love it or hate it band, now, concerning me, I've always concidered more or less their mechanized black metal a pleasant experience, neither awesome nor disgusting. Attila Csihar's contribution consisted of an important boost for the band that kept a steady course in blending electronics with black metal and they never stepped away from their connection with the norwegian scene, after Attila (I know he's from Hungary, Mayhem ain't) left Faust came in, along with Prime Evil of Mysticum fame.

Four years passed since Generator and Prime Evil is no longer part of the band. The main figure behind Aborym, Malfeitor Fabban, deals with the vocals on the new album, Psychogrotesque, having brought in a new guitarist as well, Hell:I0:Kabbalus. Along with the basic trio you will find a wide variety of guest musicians on vocals, electronics, guitars etc, Narchost ( Malfeitor), Karyn Crisis ( Crisis), Giulio Moschini ( Hour Of Penance) and Davide Tiso ( Ephel Duath) to name a few. Psychogrotesque deals with acylum aspects of life and the cover artwork is spot-on on both the lyrical matter, the title and the vibes that come forth during the listening procession. I liked pretty much the single-lighted room, insomnia's always the best friend of a mentally awakened mind.

Insects, carriers of plagues but of importance to nature as well, insects, this is what you'll notice in "I" as the albums slowly comes to life and in this case they're not for good, insects; and a pounding heart. I like Ill-natured atmosphere, I like it a lot and Psychogrotesque holds loads of it, it's sick enough to make my braincells gunshot one another until there's only one left standing; and you know where it can point the barrel at. This time everything seems well-conceived, well-composed and well-executed and in my humble opinion Aborym surpassed themselves with this attempt, it was one big step ahead so as not to keep up once again with the With No Human Intervention/Generator story. The electronics this time flirt with dark electro/EBM in a well-structured way ("II", "V", "VIII"), yet they keep the chaotic industrial edge amidst FX and sequences the band had on previous releases alongside floating keyboards. I like the samples, I like them a lot, they appear in the most ideal moment, alarm sound, breaking glass, voices, fading steps, iron doors, classical music, lullaby toy music, all those sounds fit in the exact moment they should and the slight use of Marcello Balena's saxophone just adds to the overall atmosphere ("V", "VI"). Of course the guitars are here once again, they couldn't be missing, nausiating solos, noisy suspending riffing, more static groundshakers and of course melodic harmonies, at the right time, in the right place, for the right reason. As for the vocal factor, a wide variety of sickening shrieks and demented recites/whispers ("IV"/"IX"), as well as clean interpretations with a different aura each time ("V", "VI", "VIII"), while Faust performs really well, offering either a mechanical or more organic sound, everything at its time, alongside the beat and the cold bass lines.

Psychogrotesque is the amusement park of dementia, a movie-like horrifying sound existence better served as a whole for it's an entity, a foul one, the big step ahead in the open cliff.

PsyLights: Psychogrotesque, Psygrochotesque, Psytegrochosque ...


Rating breakdown
Performance: 10
Songwriting: 9
Originality: 8
Production: 9





Written on 07.11.2010 by "It is myself I have never met, whose face is pasted on the underside of my mind."


Comments

Comments: 4   Visited by: 228 users
07.11.2010 - 12:16
Mikyz

Yeah it's a pretty solid release but it's not as good as their previous stuff, i wouldn't rate it as high as you. It has its moments, good review.
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Laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone.
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07.11.2010 - 14:32
Rating: 6
Ag Fox
Angel No More
Sounds very interesting
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loves 小巫
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15.11.2010 - 07:52
Sworn

Aborym did a masterpiece with this record. It's really good, a little bit more organic in a sort of way than their previous albums and probably their best work to date in my opinion.
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17.11.2010 - 12:44
Danny Devilto

Nice review, the album reminded me of Abigor
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