What do you get when you put in one room members of Necrophobic and Entombed A.D? If you said “damn good music”, you’re in the right side of things.
Even though Firespawn have been around for no less than 4 years, Abominate is the first real release that my Dumbo ears have listened to and oh boy, on one hand I’m sorry I haven’t tuned it earlier, and on the other hand on the first spin I was so pleasantly surprised, that I needed nothing more.
Abominate opens up with “The Gallows End” that lays the foundations of aggression that would continue throughout the album, with circular-feeling guitar works and even some echo effects thrown in for greater effect.
The Swedes kicks the listener’s face in again with “Death and Damnation” that may begin in a slower, somewhat-monotonic manner, but turns itself into a blasting tank, as the officer L.G Petrov growls his commands into the machines’ tower, while it drives on anything in it’s way, only to sometimes pause while Fredrik manages to insert as much Heavy Metal as possible into his solo here and the combination sounds magnificent.
“Heathen Blood” is also a fast one, where the band that hails from the area that the almighty Smørrebrød comes from, are immediately proving what years of honing Death Metal sounds like. It’s brutal as heck, it’s fast, it’s full of flesh-ripping guitars and it can easily define the sound of Firespawn without breaking a sweat.
“The Great One” and “The Hunter” see the band as they manage to implement many more Heavy Metal influences into their musical style and although combining tunes derived from aggressive Death Metal and from the more classical side of Metal is nothing new, it’s not easy to find a band that does it well, nowadays. Firespawn manage to alternate between these and combine without one overtopping the other or sounding as though they tried too hard to get to this sound. Abominate, as these two serve for examples, sounds fresh and original, while still playing tunes that originate at an earlier times (in a good way).
The cover artwork (and lyrics) that shows a towering Hell-creature storming the world with his hordes, bringing on death onto the world we all know, helps this too and looked like it came out of an 18th century Occult book.
The Riff-madness continues on “Black Wings Of The Apokalypse” that manages to position Petrov’s sick vocals as something to always fear and shows how all the different aspects of each member of the group comes together into a well-executed song that would tear out necks and ears and with this violent tone, Abominate closes. A very formidable release, a very interesting release albeit a tad too repetitive, but that’s a matter of taste and my taste does not matter.
Label: Century Media
Release Date: June 2019
Review by: Omer
Rating: 4/5
Tracklist:
1. The Gallows End
2. Death And Damnation
3. Abominate
4. Heathen Blood
5. The Great One
6. Cold Void
7. The Hunter
8. Godlessness
9. Blind Kingdom
10. The Undertaker
11. Black Wings Of The Apokalypse