Abominated – Traumatic Putrefaction

Released more than two years ago, Traumatic Putrefaction is the last remaining of older materials, released through Godz Ov War Productions, that deserves a review on these pages. Since I still enjoy revisiting the old materials, I decided to put a few words on it. But, before digging deeper into the abovementioned record, first a little introduction to the band going under the moniker of Abominated.

To be honest I was not familiar with Abominated before, but I could read that the whole journey began at the end of 2018, when Marc reached out to John with an intention of ‘digging out the rotten sounds the Swedish were providing in the early 90s’ to record them. After a year of sewing the body parts together in various ways, Greg and ZB joined the squad for vocals and bass, respectively, and as a result the Abomination line-up was complete. At the end of 2023 this Warsaw-based quintet was finally ready to release their full-length debut entitled Traumatic Putrefaction.

Tracklist:

1. Forbidden Pleasures of Self-Immolation (Opus Magnum .44)
2. Stench of Life
3. Vile Mutated Mass
4. Merciless Aggression
5. Sacrificial Defilement
6. Traumatic Putrefaction
7. Senseless Barbaric Insemination
8. Blasphemous Convocation
9. Slave To Depravity

Let me start at the very beginning that there is nothing really sophisticated, complicated nor pretentiousness here, but if you’re looking for half an hour of bone-crushing & ferocious death metal ride, then you’ve come to the right place.

Traumatic Putrefaction is packed with throaty, powerful and growling vocals, chainsaw choppy guitar riffs, chunky chords, and finally some occasional blast beats with many moments of technical and tight drums. Furthermore, one can notice some gorgeously doomy aesthetics present in their sound, which alongside numerous tempo and rhythm shifts makes this opus an overwhelming and varied listening experience.

In spite of the fact that Traumatic Putrefaction is only their debut, the guys from Abominated find a perfect balance between raw ferocity and high-level songwriting on the album. Thus, Traumatic Putrefaction is a crisply produced and high-quality crisply sound, where esp. the guitar chords and key sequences are perfectly arranged. I thoroughly appreciated up-tempo songs featuring chunky chords and impressive death metal roars.

The album features gorgeous cover art by the legendary Dan Seagrave, which is like a perfect aesthetic match for the ‘slime-soaked’ music. I think the cover itself is the essence of death metal – characterized by high-contrast, intense colors often evoking a filthy, chaotic atmosphere reflecting the raw, violent nature of 1990s death metal music.

Judged by their debut work, the band is on the good path of joining a litany of Polish death metal legends like Vader, Azarath or Decapitated in keeping their homeland’s legacy of great death metal bands alive. Their sound really resonates with me, and I’m already looking forward to hear future materials from this hard-hitting and venomous death metal combo from Poland.

Highly recommended for fans of old-school crushing death metal and bands like Vader, Asphyx, Bolt Thrower, Decapitated, Obituary, Hate, Azarath etc. Meanwhile learn more on this 2023 debut at their bandcamp, or just give it a spin following the link below.