UMUR
"Strychnine.213" is the 6th full-length studio album by Belgian death metal act Aborted. The album was released through Century Media Records in June 2008. It´s the successor to "Slaughter & Apparatus: A Methodical Overture" from 2007. There have been quite a few lineup changes since the predecessor, but that´s not unusual for Aborted...
...and lineup changes or not Aborted has always been Sven de Caluwé´s (lead vocals) baby, and the music on the album sounds unmistakbly like Aborted. It´s relatively brutal and technically well played death metal with both high pitched aggressive snarling and deep brutal growling vocals. The music features a lot of well played and melodic guitar solos too, and a good deal of tempo changes. So this is a natural successor to "Slaughter & Apparatus: A Methodical Overture (2007)" and it´s safe to say there hasn´t been much development in the songwriting department. Little tweaks here and there, but that´s it. The lyrics and the general image of the band are still gore/horror themed which song titles like "A Murmer in Decrepit Wits", "Pestiferous Subterfuge", and "The Chyme Congeries" are also a testament to.
The quality of the material on the 10 track, 37:10 minutes long album is generally pretty high, and although a bit more variation and recognisable hooks could have lifted the music to an even higher level, it´s still a quality release as it is. The musicianship is on a high level too, and the sound production is also decent. The guitars could have prospered from a more fat tone and the bass drums feature a very clicky unnatural sound, but other than that the music and the sound production, go well hand in hand. A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.