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Irish noise extremists Abaddon Incarnate have been churning out quality chaos for 2 decades now. Ever evolving into darker territories and driven to produce increasingly horrific soundscapes, they’ve now returned with their first album in 5 years ‘Pessimist’. A Pandora’s Box of every savage sound and style they’ve explored thus far integrated into one 34 minute slice of stygian diabolism.
Opening track Pessimist wastes no time in summarizing just what we’re in for. Half an hour of scalding intensity, unrelenting velocity and deranged vocals. Perhaps we’ll be given reprieve at some point. Well…no. Although Yester Hara is…maybe…slower? It’s hard to say when we’re dealing with this kind of tempo.
The pleasingly named Warping The Necrospawn yields some welcome results as it slows proceedings down towards the end. A riff you can windmill to at less than 150 rpm feels like a delicacy by this point. Surely now we’ll see some sort of love ballad to level the playing field?
Broken Spectre is a big fuck you to that possibility. Although it does grace you with some slick, catchy riffs. I get a distinct Dismember vibe here. A vibe track number 6 Fear justifies beautifully as it imparts yet another of those slick, catchy crowd pleasing riffs.
Prison Of Introspection is immediately an album favourite and proves itself to be one of the most exciting tracks on the record and the epitome of everything Abaddon Incarnate do brilliantly. But you’ll smile widest once you wrap yourself around the grand composition of Morbid Epiphany. They restrain themselves from going all in at the get go and make a fantastic showcase of the intro.
Undead Outcasts seems even more dissonant than the rest of the album. Any individual layer seems hard to discern, yet essential for the bigger picture. The almost Entombed like quality of the closing riff is a nice touch. At this point it’s hard to predict the nature of the closing track, but Funeral Hag is another example of blending all Abaddon Incarnate’s trademarks into one swift deftly executed movement.
Pessimist is a veritable orgy of primal hatred. Both intensely fast paced, and horrifically dark. The fact Pessimist’s tracks were recorded in live takes and took just 3 days to complete lends a hugely authentic atmosphere to the record. Relentless though it may be, clocking in at just half an hour assures it never becomes stale. It cleverly avoids repetition with a delicately balanced combination of elements. Abaddon Incarnate are on a path to honing their style to perfection, and that drive has taken them to the next level with Pessimist. Regardless of the records name sake, I can only feel optimistic about what they’ll deliver next.
Review by Sam Smart
Pessimist is released via Candlelight Records on June 23rd 2014
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