Abjured are a German grindcore band and this is their second album.
Here we have 41 minutes of Scandinavian-inspired acidic grindcore, played with venom and a creative flair.
This is an interesting release in many ways. The band have taken a Swedish grindcore base, like Nasum or Rotten Sound, and mutated and warped it into something, modern, more expansive, and a bit more experimental in places. This willingness to essentially try new things reminds me of Napalm Death or Antigama, or even a toned-down Cephalic Carnage in some ways, in spirit at least.
The aforementioned grindcore base mainly consists of devastating grooves and scathing blasts, allowing the tracks to tear out of the speakers with furious aggression to do their damage. Brutal grindcore is backed up by filthy crust and violent hardcore, making for songs that rage and burn with belligerent passion. This essentially describes the bulk of the material here.
All of this is extremely enjoyable, but one of the things I like about Absolutist, however, is that the band’s depth of delivery doesn’t stop here; they also include the occasional sludge/doom-inspired slower moment, as well as even some post-metal ones. This is mainly, (but not exclusively), confined to the final 12-minute behemoth, (and title track), that sits atop the album like a crown. This is primarily why the album is longer than most grindcore releases. If the band can expand on these elements so that they play a more direct role in the rest of their material in the future, we could be witnessing the birth of something really special here.
Absolutist is a highly enjoyable modern grindcore release, one which deserves to be aired frequently and at loud volume. Abjured have produced a scorching record.
Wonderbox Metal 