Abominable Putridity
In the End of Human Existence Review
Both full Abominable Putridity full lengths are cool, though they are very, very different. I have learned to favor this earlier release over their newer, significantly more technical stuff. The mood of In the End of Human Existence is rich and the logic is remote.
This debut LP, which is repeatedly shat upon on this site, has many hidden charms and takes some real effort to appreciate. It is very controlled music and worth spending the time to understand, though it’s easy to see how people could listen a couple of times and write it off as boring.
These chugging slamming death metal songs lurch and shift, fluidly, but inscrutably, with what seems like little regard for entertainment or the rock foundation of metal. But this is clearly the design of its authors, not a flaw. There is so much muted chugging and rhythmic shifting that whenever a slightly catchy riff or a sustained chord appears, it feels like a luxurious anomaly compared to its bleak, relentless surroundings. A lot of these tunes yield one really memorable hook, such as those heard in the concluding portions of album highlights, “Blindfold Surgery” and “Sphacelated Nerves,” either of which are perfect examples of the slamming death metal aesthetic, though they are not as accessible as most of the bands I dig in this style.
My appreciation of Anomalies of an Artifical Origin remains containable, but the obscure logic, dark mood and slow power of In the End of Human Existence makes a more lasting impression to me and likley to people who are willing to do some work to understand it. It has a serious-and perhaps unknowable--purpose and is in some ways is a death metal equivalent of something like Mayhem superb Wolf's Lair Abyss in that it seems wholly uninterested in rock or fun or whether you like it or not. It is the result of another type of thought process.
Patient fans of death metal should investigate this well-recorded and obtuse effort. Just don’t it expect it to grab you straight away.