Verses of the Bleeding

Abnegation were the bridge between the chuggy metallic hardcore of the early nineties (pioneered by bands like Earth Crisis), and death metal. These guys were probably the first hardcore band to make Slayer riffs a central part of their sound. The band peaked in 1995/96, with their split seven-inch with Chapter giving them a disproportionate level of international influence (for such an obscure band). They preached and practiced a vegan straightedge lifestyle, common for bands from this scene and era. They also held pro-life views on abortion (e.g., on an old song called “Birthright”). This made them a divisive band in the wider hardcore scene.

"Verses of the Bleeding" is a weird album. It feels like the work of an entirely different band to the one described above. This is because two key members, guitarist Paul Nowoczynski and vocalist Jason Imig, did not appear on this record. These two guys had the closest affinity to both the hardcore scene and to the band's ideology. Without them, Abnegation became a full-fledged, schlocky death metal band with lyrics about the evils of organised religion. Confusingly, the album was released on Goodlife (a Belgian hardcore label), thereby reaching the band's existing audience. Many of those who heard this album were die-hard vegans and animal liberation activists. There was a backlash against the band's revised approach.

In short, this album doesn’t represent the real Abnegation. It has a throwaway, "don't give a fuck" attitude, maybe intended to distance the band from the 'holier than thou' aspects of the hardcore scene. Evidence for this can be seen in the gruesome (often censored) cover artwork, and the shitty version of Venom's "Welcome to Hell" (which sounds like it was recorded in five minutes). Personally, I won’t judge Abnegation for abandoning their ideologies (their pro-life views were unsavoury in the first place). I am more interested in judging the album on its own merits, as a death metal album.

Therein lies the problem. “Verses for the Bleeding” is a crude, amateurish death metal album reminiscent of Morbid Angel and Deicide. The production is wafer-thin. The abundant 'scary' Satanic film-samples are tiresome. The songs have some decent riffs but are not particularly interesting. The second song, "Hopes of Harmony", could have offered redemption. This one was originally recorded for the "Stones to Mark a Fire" compilation back in 1995. That version remains the band's finest, most significant moment. This re-recorded version lacks the urgency, vitriol and heaviness of the original, and the sub-par death growls are ill-suited to the composition. Similar criticisms could be made of the other two re-recorded songs ("Stones That Strike the Cedar" and "Drowning in Halo's Water"), which are faster than the originals but nowhere near as powerful.

This album revealed Abnegation as a spent force. The band expired a year later. The mantle of righteous vegan/eco-activist death metal was seized by Day of Suffering, who released the blistering "The Eternal Jihad" at a similar time. In retrospect, the remaining members of Abnegation could/should have released this album under a different band-name. This would not have made the album any better, but would have avoided sullying the Abnegation legacy. My recommendation is simple: listen to the band's earlier stuff.

Stumbling upon this cd in a local Disc Replay, I didn't have my hopes up. I bought it because I love discovering new bands, but I just felt like this was going to be a run of the mill album I would listen to once and give up. After listening to it, I feel that the previous statement is kind of true, although it has some elements that you will go back for. Abnegation pulls of a surprisingly decent effort with "Verses of the Bleeding". It's absolutely not the worst album I have ever heard, but doesn't stand out all that much either. What does stand out is that cover artwork. Holy fuck.

From start to finish everything is good on this record. There is nothing I truly hate and nothing I really love, but the positives outweigh the negatives. For starters, the best part of the album was the technical drumming. Every song has this extra "oomph" to it because of the percussion. The guitar and bass work are all decent and really encapsulate 90s brutal death metal for me. The music itself compares to Dying Fetus more than anything. That's not entirely a bad thing due to each song being pretty catchy. One of the things that bothered me though were the vocals. The main vocals are pretty rough in spots, although not atrocious. He has a pretty monotone style, but there is a backup vocalist that takes care of the higher pitched stuff. Both of these guys do pretty well to balance the songs so you don't get tired of the same standard sounding death metal. Both of them aren't anything special, but they do make the songs more interesting to listen to.

One thing I would really like on here is for Abnegation to fully embrace break downs. There were many times that I felt like a break down was coming, only for the direction to go to a more predictable place. You could say that more break downs would be more predictable, but many times they just go back to standard riffing. These guys are catchy on all fronts, so why not just go full steam ahead? This album is really missing that little extra and needs all the help it gets. A solo here, an extra break down there, would have gone a long way.

This is a pretty short album and it's a good time. You're not going to listen to the next brutal death masterpiece, but you have heard far worse. These guys write some good lyrics and obviously passionate about what they were doing. The guitar work may be pretty average, but the drumming makes up for it. Now, I just need to find this album on vinyl so I can show off the cover to my weak-stomached friends.

Recs: "Bury the Needle", "Stones that Strike the Cedar", and "Cry of the Ezurate"

Chances are if you knew Abnegation before this review, you knew this early brutal death metal band because of the album cover of this album, Verses of the Bleeding. It's a gruesome thing, mind you: a woman splayed out on a bed and missing her frontal lobe. From what I've heard (which may or may not be true), it was the results of a pit bull that was taught to attack on command, and its owner, the woman's husband, didn't like his mate anymore. Pretty brutal shit, if you ask me. Fake or not, it gets my vote of one of the most brutal album covers I have ever seen. But now I'm getting a bit off-topic.

Abnegation's Verses of the Bleeding is a brutal death metal album released in 1997. It abounds with Suffocation worship, decent riffs, and average vocals. There are some memorable parts in the music, but for the most part there isn't much actually going on throughout the musical composition.

The vocals are typical Frank Mullen emulation, but the singer keeps the formula from going entirely stale because of his voice which brings thoughts of other death metal vocalists, like that of Glen Benton and sometimes even George Fisher. Despite the fact that his voice is very cool-sounding, the actual vocal execution is boring, as the singer never really tries anything fast or catchy, and half the time, simply says the lyrics whenever he feels like it with no attention to the rhythm of the drums or guitars. The highs are the opposite: they are very catchy, but at the same time they are generic as fuck, and I can name quite a few BDM vocalists who sound just like this. The highs are often layered with the gutturals, and it's probably the best the vocals sound on this release. Finally, every now and then you'll also get what reminds me of classic hardcore vocals. They're not bad, but they're a bit out of place.

The guitars are usually either death metal-style breakdowns or tremolo riffs, and they either use a very melodic tone or a crunchy tone that brings memories of Butchered at Birth's unique guitar sound. The actual riffs are best when they're slowed down, as most of the tremolos seem to pass straight through one ear and out the other. Most of the songs' content is brutal death metal, but there is a Venom cover on this CD and it feels quite a bit out of place with this band's music. The guitar isn't downtuned, and yet at the same time the vocalist attempts to continue his gutturals. The juxtaposition almost makes the song not worth listening to.

And here we are at the drums (bass could not be located), which are, for me, the lowest part of this album. Why? Well, the snare sounds trashy, but I've listened to a bunch of albums where the trashy snare actually sounded good. The cymbals and crash sound nice, though it takes a seriously shitty drumkit to make them not sound good. So what is the problem here? You guessed it - the bass drum. Like another band I reviewed, Teratism, Abnegation's bass drum sounds very unpleasant. Slapping an obese person's ass... hitting a rotting wood block... laxative-induced flatulence... typing on a typewriter at blast-beat speeds... whatever you imagine it to be, it's very disgusting. Now, I actually like the drumwork here: fills abound (especially at the beginnings of songs), and it drives itself forward with drum rolls on the bass drum, but I simply can't tolerate the drums when their main component sounds like utter shit.

If I had to choose a favorite song here, it'd either be "When the Smoke Clears" (which, unfortunately, is the shortest song you'll find here) or "Bury the Needle" (the second-shortest song - is my mind trying to tell me something?). "When the Smoke Clears" uses the normal guitar tone and has vocals reminiscent of George Fisher. Ironically, "Bury the Needle" is the song that reminds me the most of pre-1995 Cannibal Corpse due to the aforementioned inimitable guitar tone and the vocals.

Overall, this probably isn't an album that's worth hunting down on the Internet, but it's not going to make your ears bleed, either. It's pretty average, actually, unlike the picture that graced its CD cover. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go worship the album cover to Verses of the Bleeding, which is exponentially better than the music it holds inside.