ABORTED – VAULT OF HORRORS

(Andy Synn plays armchair casting director with the new Aborted, set for release on March 15)

In the almost twenty-five(!) years since their first album, Aborted have proven themselves – on multiple occasions – to be one of the most relentlessly reliable purveyors of sonic shock and awe in the business.

But, as with any long-running franchise, audience-fatigue is always a constant concern, and while the group’s sound (and membership, with frontman Sven de Caluwé being the only original cast member left) has generally proven to be mutable and malleable enough to differentiate different entries in the series from one another, for the most part – for better or worse – you kind of know what you’re going to get with a new Aborted record.

On album number twelve, however, the band have opted to get some extra buzz – and maybe even a bit of a box office boost – by drafting in a plethora of guest stars, and while this isn’t exactly a new strategy by any means, the sheer number of famous names making an appearance this time around (one on each of the album’s ten tracks – none of whom are me, I’m sorry to say) can’t help but make me wonder whether this a case of shallow stunt-casting or a proper creative cross-over (although there’s no reason it can’t be both, I suppose).

So, with that in mind, instead of simply telling you whether it’s a good album or not (it is, don’t worry) or even how good it is (very, as it happens, due to an extra dash of “blackened” melody and brutish ‘core influences), I’ve decided – mostly for my own amusement, but hopefully for yours too – to take a slightly different approach with this review and focus my attention on how effective these guest features are and what they add (or don’t).

So let’s see who has chemistry and who’s been miscast, shall we?

Opener “Dreadbringer” (featuring Ben Duerr of Shadow of Intent) immediately sets the tone, and the bar, for the rest of the album with its seamless mix of John Carpenter synths and blistering blastbeats, over which long-time guitarist Ian Jekelis and his new partner in crime Daníel Máni Konráðsson (also of Ophidian I) lay down some surprisingly melodic, borderline “blackened”, riffage that still has more than enough bite and bludgeon to reassure anyone who might have been afraid that Aborted were going to mellow out with age.

Unfortunately, Duerr’s contributions aren’t quite as strong as the song he’s featured on – don’t get me wrong, he plays a solid supporting role in backing up de Caluwé’s characteristic cacophony of shrieks, snarls, grunts and growls, but doesn’t seem to have been given quite enough to do to allow his appearance to stand out, especially when compared to some of the more impactful performances found elsewhere on the record (I’d even say that his own previous appearance on Maniacult – which you should really check out – was far more authoritative).

“Condemned to Rot” (featuring Fleshgod Apocalypse‘s Francesco Paoli) keeps up the pace and the quality, balancing that continued Horror Movie melodicism – especially in its second half – with some seriously chunky, chugging riffs which give the Italian hellion a little more room to strut his stuff (most notably during the punchy pre-chorus refrains, where his parts feel like they were actually written specifically for him), while Carcosa‘s Johnny Ciardullo puts on a solid display of barking belligerence and screaming savagery during the absolutely annihilating “Brotherhood of Sleep” (even if he does still end up a bit overshadowed by the real star of the show).

It’s not really until track four, however (which brings in Alex Erian, one half of Despised Icon‘s vocal tag-team title-holders), where Vault of Horrors starts to feel like a proper cross-over event rather than just a succession of special (or not so special) appearances, as Erian’s much more Hardcore-inspired holler gives the song (one of the heaviest, hookiest, and hardest-hitting on the entire album) a tonally different flavour which, especially during its monstrous chorus, plays off of de Caluwé’s distinctive delivery perfectly.

Similarly, the blistering blackened blastery and rapid-fire riffage of “Hellbound” gives Cryptopsy‘s Matt McGachy a lot more to work with than some of the other guests, and there are moments during the track (another one of the album’s best) where it seems like him and de Caluwé are constantly trying to one-up one another in terms of who can deliver the most vicious, venomous performance.

Unfortunately, grind-tastic sixth track “Insect Politics”, while an absolute blast in its own right, gives Ingested‘s Jason Evans very little to do – to the point where his role amounts to little more than a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo – whereas Hal Microutsicos of Engulf plays a much more prominent part in the atmosphere-heavy churn ‘n’ burn of second-half highlight “The Golgothan” (which once again benefits from Konráðsson’s subtle melodic embellishments), where his frenetic delivery ensures, at the very least, that his name is one you won’t forget.

Again, though, it’s one of the biggest names – Archspire‘s Oliver Rae Aleron – who gets the real star treatment, with his brief, but scene-stealing, appearance on “The Shape of Hate” pretty much guaranteed to be one of the ones that people will be talking about the most (even though I still feel like “The Golgothan” is the superior song), especially when you compare it to the way that Signs of the Swarm‘s David Simonich is largely buried beneath de Caluwés monstrous performance on penultimate cut, “Naturom Demonto”, with only a few moments here and there where he manages to crawl his way out of the basement and make his presence felt.

Thankfully, full-force album finale “Malevolent Haze”, while not the best ender they’ve ever written (that honour still goes to either “Endstille” or “Cenobites”), definitely establishes itself as one of the better closers in the band’s catalogue, partially due to the way it uses Konráðsson’s more melodic inclinations to build towards its inevitable climax, and partially due to the way in which it elects to drop in Ov Sulfur‘s Ricky Hoover as a sort of Death Metal deus ex machina right in the middle of the track in order to maximise the song’s climactic kill-count.

So what have we learned from opening the Vault of Horrors?

Well, for one thing, it’s clear that Aborted can still fucking go when they want to, and while the slightly increased emphasis on “blackened” and/or ‘core elements will probably irk a few people there’s definitely – to my ears at least – a bevy of tracks here (the opening one-two of “Dreadbringer” and “Condemned to Rot”, the mid-album peak of “Deathcult” and “Hellbound”, and second-half highlights “The Golgothan” and “Malevolent Haze”) that are, arguably, on par with the band’s best work.

But we’ve also learned that having a good guest star does not necessarily guarantee a good song, or a good performance – sure, some of them take what they’re given and turn it into gold (some of these guys definitely deserve their own spin-off… or, at least they would, if they didn’t already have their own successful careers!) but, equally, some of them simply aren’t given enough to work with to properly justify their billing – and there’s a real danger of the gimmick overshadowing the actual content if and when you go too far with it.

Thankfully, however, Vault of Horrors is more than strong enough to stand on its own – with or without the support of its many guest stars – although, for future notice, I’d like it to be known that I’m more than happy to make room in my schedule for a cameo next time around, and my rates are extremely reasonable.