Abstracter – Wound Empire

Abstracter

Wound Empire

by Marcos “Big Daddy” Garcia at 16 February 2015, 7:53 PM

Well, to make songs with very long duration is a tradition in Metal since its beginning back on the late 60’/earlier 70’s. Hard Rock/Metal bands always used one or two long songs on their albums, being the some of the most known examples “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” from IRON BUTTERFLY (that SLAYER made a shorter version on the 80’), “At War With Satan” from VENOM and “Achilles – Agony and Ecstasy in Eight Parts” from MANOWAR. Yes, it’s a tradition, but some bands got this heritage and transformed in a way of making music, bands from many Metal/Rock subgenres that uses long songs to express their works. And one of these bands is the USA based band ABSTRACTER, from Oakland, California. Their new album, “Wound Empire”, is a fine example of this aspect.

Making a fusion between aspects of Black Metal, Sludge Metal and Stoner Metal/Rock, the quartet creates a thing from their own, with a clear personality under the oiled and strong riffs, very good harsh voices and powerful rhythmic basis. It’s a climatic and intense form of playing Metal, with very long songs, but it is really good.

Here, the sound quality is harsh to the bone, but not as smoky as some we commonly see in many albums with Black Metal elements. Here, the quality turns the music more intense and abrasive, but not something that we couldn’t understand. The instruments’ tunes are good, a distorted bass used to give a denser and heavier sound… Well, the better way to understand what Big Daddy here is trying to say is the trial of listening, nephews and nieces.

Their songs last more than 10 minutes each, except “Open Veins” (but don’t get excited. It does not reach ten minutes for few seconds). But along with “Lightless”, “Cruciform” and “Glowing Wounds” (this one with some morbid and oppressive elements moments), they form a good album, with a darkened and morbid feeling, and are very good for all to hear.

Very good, indeed, but maybe more variations can be welcome next time.