Aborted - Global Flatline

For some reason, Aborted is one of the most popular death metal bands in Washington. So when the release date for this album was released, it seemed that almost every metalhead in my area was eager to get their hands on it. I had already gotten my ticket to go see them with Origin, Decrepit Birth, Rings of Saturn, Cattle Decapitation, Battlecross, and Loculus. Since the album was released before the show, I was one of the many brutality-hungry metalheads to jump on it that morning. The majority opinion of the previous release, Strychnine.213, wasn’t too bright. But oddly enough, besides Goremageddeon, that album was always a favorite of mine. This was probably because it was the first Aborted album I heard, and I first listened to it around the time of its release in 2008, which was when I was still in the “early metalhead stages” where anything with growling/screaming and highly-distorted guitars made me happy. But even now, four years later, I still thoroughly enjoy listening to that record! But this review isn’t about Strychnine; it’s about the overdue follow-up record, Global Flatline.

After the release of Global Flatline, I listened to it constantly for about a day or so, and then I got distracted with other bands and albums I was discovering (like Sinister, Enthroned, and Inquisition). And, of course, I didn’t really listen to it too much when the Occupation Domination tour drew close…I was too busy masturbating to the sexiness of the new Cattle Decapitation record. The main question that everyone has about every new release is “how has their sound changed?” Well, I’ve been doing some research on what the majority of Aborted’s fans are into, even though it was already somewhat obvious. The majority of Aborted’s fans are primarily into the EXTREME slamming brutality created by bands like Dying Fetus, Guttural Secrete, Devourment, Pathology, Putrid Pile, and Skinless. As well as that (also not surprising to me) there are a lot of people that are fans of the EXTREMELY brutal deathcore stuff that are Aborted fans (stuff like Whitechapel, Suicide Silence, Carnifex, Fit for an Autopsy, Oceano, The Red Chord, etc.) Here’s the interesting thing about Global Flatline, it’s the first Aborted record that’s brutal enough to make the brutal metallers happy and contains breakdowns deep enough to satisfy deathcore fans. No, Goremageddeon doesn’t count because its brutality has proved to be too much for most deathcore fans (not to put them down for anything). In other words, this album is a cacophony of different sounds Aborted has used throughout their career.

Once the intro track was finished, I was expecting to have an explosion of chaos go off right in my face. But Aborted made sure to keep things fresh and unexpected and started with a much slower groove with blasting double kicks. And then, when a randomly recorded voice says “I’m gonna fucking rape your soul!” I know that Aborted still has a core made out of 100% slamming brutality. Aborted has always had a weird habit of having A LOT of something and a fair amount of everything else. The Purity of Perversion has A LOT of bass, Goremageddeon has A LOT of guitar crunch, Strychnine.213 has A LOT of blastbeats and A LOT of growling and screaming at the same time. Well, the thing with Global Flatline is that it has A LOT of…..wait…there isn’t really anything that stands out to me other than that it has more screaming than any other Aborted album. So Global Flatline seems much more balanced out than previous records.

The drums are bombarding as always, the riffs that the guitarists are playing are slightly more complex than before, which is a good thing. Although it’s obvious that he’s there, I can’t really hear the bassist as much as I’d like to. Probably the parts where he’s heard easiest is when he’s doing a slide right before a breakdown. Probably my favorite thing about Aborted is how their vocalist puts his screaming on top of his guttural inhaled growls in the studio; it just sounds so cool! I love it! Although there’s plenty of that in this album, the screams have taken over in terms of volume and frequency. Overall, this album is fantastic and a great follow-up to Strychnine. Having more material than any other Aborted album, Global Flatline earns my score of 18/20 with my favorite song being The Origin of Disease.