Abominable Putridity - The Anomalies of Artificial Origin

Abominable Putridity was the band that proved to me that some of the best underground brutal death bands come from Russia. I’m not saying that THE BEST come from Russia, I’m saying that most of the Russian brutal death bands are fucking awesome. Not only is there Abominable Putridity, but there’s also Aposepsy, Katalepsy, Aborted Fetus, and Abnormity (for some weird reason a lot of them start with the same letter). As well as brutal death, but Russia has a very strong depressive black metal scene that includes one of my favorite bands ever, Wintercult. But Russian brutality is what I’m here to tell you about, especially in the likes of this particular CD which I bought a month or so ago as well as a shirt (both from the record label, Brutal Bands), The Anomalies of Artificial Origin.

More or less, Abominable Putridity is Russian death metal at its best. Not only have they acclaimed the status and recognition with the community and their fans, but with the industry as well. Through quality in music, great sales (apparently all of the pre-orders for this album sold out almost a week in advance), and a great record label (Brutal Bands), Abominable Putridity’s popularity is more than well-deserved. Ok, now that I’ve given an overview of Abominable Putridity’s status, why the fuck do I love this album so much??

Some people would beg to differ on this point, but I believe that when it comes to the “generic” forms of a genre, that there’s still plenty of room for variation within those walls. For example, in deathcore, all of the generic bands share 80-90% of the same traits. But when you put Suicide Silence, Impending Doom, Emmure, and Suffokate (all generic deathcore bands) side-by-side, you can still pick out a fair amount of differences. Suicide Silence is the heaviest of the group, Impending Doom’s breakdowns have more of a modernized Meshuggah sound, Emmure plays nothing but simple breakdowns, and Suffokate is much slower and doesn’t play any blast beats. Abominable Putridity is a generic brutal death band, but still has plenty of qualities that make them different from the rest.

Although all of the musicians in this band are fantastic, the drummer and the vocalist stand out to me the most. Matti Way, the vocalist, made his claim to fame by being the vocalist for brutal death masters Pathology on Age of Onset and Legacy of the Ancients. But also, he’s one of those vocalists that has made a large number of guest appearances on albums by (just to name a few) Deeds of Flesh, Condemned, Slaughterbox, and Flesh Consumed. And if you haven’t heard his vocals before, take my word for it that he is one of the best slamming brutal death vocalists in the genre and definitely knows his stuff. Also, the drummer is an extremely creative member of the band. The most unique thing about what this guy plays is that he rarely plays blast beats (unless he’s playing his interpretation/version of a blast beat that doesn’t even sound like one). Instead, he does literally everything else a death metal drummer can think of. Showing variety in the drumming is something that too many brutal death albums lack due to most drummers only playing blast beats or a single drum pattern they come up with. He’s not a drummer that CONSTANTLY plays ultra-fast, but that doesn’t mean that he never does, because he can play some fucking BLASTING speeds that mow you down.

The guitars are very well-rounded as far as how much bass and treble goes, but the bass guitar’s volume could use to be much louder. Either that or he’s playing more mid-range and high notes than I’m used to, which wouldn’t surprise me because there are moments where the guitars are taking a really technical climb in pitch and I can hear the bass doing the same thing as well. Aside from that, this band is tighter than the pussy of a toddler, their slamming breakdowns pound you ten feet into the pavement, and the song structure is very organized and none of the songs sound the same. I would give this record 18/20 for being my favorite Russian brutal death record and for blowing my mind apart (almost literally) with its musical quality and bombarding brutality.