| CD REVIEW Abstract Rapture |
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Band : Abstract Rapture “...Yeah man, with this one a very old dream (namely to be able to do a review by a decent Luxemburg based band, country from which not so many musical products find their way into the world) finally comes true! Our getting acquainted with the fivesome was actually somewhat of a chance thing, our editor-in-chief meeting the band a couple of months ago in his capacity of...nah, can't tell you that, let's just say, one of his other jobs...at the Cavalera Conspiracy gig in Esch (Luxemburg), and the fact that this review only comes on-line now has of course to do with the unfortuitous timing of the Concrete Web computer crashing just prior to The Chief's 14-day trip to the US. At first, I was somewhat surprised about not having heard of this truly fine modern thrash metal act before...espacially since they've been around since May 2001...but then the boys were in a demo stage before. Actually, the original outfit comprising singer Dritt, guitarist Nol, bassist Steve E., and drummer Steve R. spent the first 9 months (how appropriate) in their rehearsal room honing their skills and finetuning their songs, before doing their live debut in Athus, Belgium. The present media writing positive reactions, the boys were enticed to continue playing the occadsional gig with a couple of bands from the Luxemburg scene. Lust for the stage then necessitated the recording of the quartet's first demo Asphyxiation. In spite of being recorded in the band's rehearsal cellar and a somewhat unsatisfactory sound, the demo did the trick, and indeed resulted in an increase of concerts opportunities. But then, in May 2003, the rhythm section decides to leave the country, thus also leaving the "Raptors" as a two-piece! Soon after bassist Rol (full name Roland Flies, formerly playing with Dreams Of Nabid and Mictlan) joined the band, but the wait for drummer Spit (full name Michel Spithoven, and a somewhat veteran in the scene having played with Dreams Of Nabid, Enid, Falkenbach, Rivendell, and Vindsval) would be untill the end of December. However, so matching was his style that only two weeks after his joining the band was already playing a gig again! The interest of the local Thrashers by this time had grown to such an extend that the venue where the band did its re-appearance got completely over-crowded. As a result, the band continued to play a decent amount of gigs during that year, thus further enlarging their fanbase. By July 2005 the band had gathered enough funds to pay for a recording session at the TidalWave Studio in Karlsruhe (Germany), leading to the release of the 5-track Dead End Entry demo-EP in late December. Guitar work on that material being of a somewhat more complex nature than before, the guys decided to recruit Scarred guitarist Yogi, wo brought with him a new set of influences. The band's slow (but definitively inevitable) rise to fame would be initiated by winning the Luxemburg Wacken Metal Battle in March 2007, which led to the band displaying their massive sound to the festival's enthousiastic crowd in August of that same year. August was also the month when Maddening Media hooked up with the band, and the band immediately returned to TidalWave to record their 11-track full-length Democadencia under productional supervision of one Patrick Damiani. Apparently the bassist couldn't make it, because Damiani is also credited for playing the bass on the recordings. Which brings me full-circle to the album, already released earlier this year on March 21st. One things which becomes evident almost immediately, is that the guys have down-tuned their guitars to make a difference with the Old School of Thrash. With dual leads and rhythm guitars bringing nice progressive runs, several breaks and tempo changes, plus loads of interesting solos, Nol and Yogi keep the tension strung high from start to finish, and an additional modern touch comes with some influences from (contemporary Swedish) Death Metal...the main content remains Thrash though! Combined with an ass-tight rhythm section and a great recording sound, what you get to hear is monstrously massive...almost bombastic, but laden with melodies which will enhance your attention span throughout the first listening session of the album. Part of that certainly is also due to the exhilerating vocal signature of singer Dritt, who sounds like a hybrid child of Max Cavalera (in the more aggravated moments) and James Hetfield (in the "calmer" moments). He also gets some nice vocal backings (more aggravated for the most part), and for the sake of "accurate" live renditions I hope they're not his own, because they truly fit in beautifully. Check out myspace.com/abstractrapture to listen to the two album opening tracks (title track and "Noxious Utopia") and two songs off the 2005 demo. That'll only give you an example of the band in its more up-tempo moments though, and one of the songs you should check out first when asking for a listening session at your local record store (providing of course they've got a copy of the album) is album closer "Observations In A Mirror (Through The Eyes Of An Alcoholic)". Calmer overall, it is also the longest track on the album...due to the fact that the guys nitted a really nice instrumental outro to it, doubling its original length! The album having been released a while ago, the band also posted a shitload of reviews in the blogs, proof of the fact that I am not the only person raving about this truly fine Luxemburg Thrash machine! So don't be surprised to find me nominating Democadencia into that "Best Albums Of 2008"-list of mine, because the record certainly deserves it! My first review of a band from Luxemburg, and what a whopper! It'll be difficult to top this, that's for sure!!!...” 95/100 Tony. |