Death metal is alive and well on the Mediterranean island of Malta, with acts like Beheaded and Abysmal Torment leading the scene and making international waves. With their latest offering and third full-length to date, Abysmal Torment unleash 13 tracks of visceral, Origin-style brutal tech-death with Cultivate the Apostate. The album is the six-piece band's follow-up to their 2009 masterpiece, Omnicide, and is their first release since the tragic death of drummer Wayne Vella in 2010. Having regrouped, Abysmal Torment have also further refined their modern death metal sound with Cultivate the Apostate, while maintaining their old school influences.
Combining mechanical technicality with groove-filled riffs and slamming speed, the album features complex time signatures and various tempos. The band maintain severe aggression throughout, starting with the crushing "Whispering Venomous Ones" and showcased especially on anthem "Hang Them High." Tracks like "Host of the Swine," "Dead in the Flesh" and "Strangled Within Coils" couple intense drum blasts with blazing riffs and intricate guitar leads.
Commanding the release is the Despised Icon-esque dual vocal attack, but Nick Farrugia and Melchior Borg kick it up with Suffocation-like ferocity. Cultivate the Apostate is both chaotic and focused, demonstrating Abysmal Torment as a modern death metal force to be reckoned with.
(Willowtip)Combining mechanical technicality with groove-filled riffs and slamming speed, the album features complex time signatures and various tempos. The band maintain severe aggression throughout, starting with the crushing "Whispering Venomous Ones" and showcased especially on anthem "Hang Them High." Tracks like "Host of the Swine," "Dead in the Flesh" and "Strangled Within Coils" couple intense drum blasts with blazing riffs and intricate guitar leads.
Commanding the release is the Despised Icon-esque dual vocal attack, but Nick Farrugia and Melchior Borg kick it up with Suffocation-like ferocity. Cultivate the Apostate is both chaotic and focused, demonstrating Abysmal Torment as a modern death metal force to be reckoned with.