Although cities such as Bergen and Stockholm are regarded among the most fertile breeding grounds for extreme metal, Reykjavik is fast gaining a reputation as a hotbed for some of the most exciting black metal this decade. Abominor are one of many blasphemous outfits from this city. Their recently-released EP, Opus – Decay, is an excellent slab of downright abhorrent extreme metal, which showscases what talent lies in this isolated part of Europe.
Despite having been around for seven years, Opus – Decay is only their second release, following a five year gap. Prior to this EP, Abominor’s only musical output was back in 2010 – a self-released demo, of which only thirteen copies were made. This EP is available as a free download on bandcamp, so it is sure to be listened to by a great deal more people.
Label: INVICTUS PRODUCTIONS
Even though it is only a two track EP, it still has a lot to get excited about. It features blissfully aggressive atonal riffage, reminiscent of such metal luminaries as Portal and Hate Eternal. Messrs Alfreð Þór and Óskar Þór take vocal duties, vomiting forth bowl movements into their microphones. When the listener isn’t being bludgeoned by scything guitars, the music is steeped in tasteful atmospherics. Yes, I can hear readers rolling their eyes, we’ve heard it all before, they say. Yet Abominor do a very decent job at what they are aiming to do, even if it is obviously fairly derivative.
Overall, I think this EP shows enough promise that when the band get around to recording a full-length, I’ll be sure to give it a listen.
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