Review of Aborted - The Haematobic EP

I have to admit that I didn’t soil myself by the band’s highly acclaimed Goremageddon CD, but I must say that this new EP really took me by the balls and delivered a sucker punch worth noting. The package consists of six songs out of which three are new, one is a decent Entombed cover and the final two are live recordings. Plus, then there’s a handful of video clips for those educated enough to use a computer.
Things really haven’t changed much as brutal (yikes) death metal is still the medium by which the band expresses their gratitude for mankind. Perhaps there’s a bit less senseless beating and a bit more structured sawing. And compared to the previous effort, I think the sound might be a bit more raw this time ‘ bringing that classical Scandinavian (or more like Swedish) flavor to the gut soaked cream pie. The band’s new original tracks are absolutely sexcellent. I think eviction might be near for me. ‘Drowned’, the Entombed cover, is decent but I still might have to go with the original. Not that I’m criticizing or anything, but perhaps it would have been more golden to take a chance with some fucked up song instead. Like Leonard Nimoy’s ‘The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins,’ for example.
The live tracks are a bit mudded out but in this case, I think that’s the way to go. At least one doesn’t have to be afraid of silly overdubs. The multimedia bonus is quite nice with nifty graphics ‘ featuring basic biography and info on the band. The actual live video clips are quite good in picture quality and they’ve been recorded with multiple cameras. However, the sound leaves quite a bit to hope for as the bass seems to be the dominating force here, leaving the rest to the back. Like a cherry on the top of a cake, there’s also a good quality video (with good quality sound) of the band’s ‘Meticulous Invagination’ song off from the Goremageddon full-length.
For Aborted fans, needless to say, this is a must buy. For the rest of us, it’s worth checking out.