Sins of the Father

Abramelin are one of the most interesting "modern" death metal bands in my opinion. While not being pioneers of any particular genre, they somehow manage to be so diverse in their style it’s very hard to describe the latter. The peculiar combination of melody, heaviness and evil in all of their albums, especially the debut one, makes Abramelin stand out a lot as a death metal act. For instance, "Your Casualty" possesses both a Cannibal Corpse-like intro and an early Hypocrisy-like riff without being discordant or pretentiously complex. Some "Deadspeak" songs even have black metal-like melodies (for example, "Pleasures" and "Bleeding Hearts"). And, while "Never Enough Snuff" did mark a shift towards more melodic death metal reminiscent of Cannibal Corpse, the band stayed true to their roots and did not depart from their curious songwriting style (the album’s solos, although not matching the epicness of the "Final Biopsy" one being especially evidential of that). Their newest effort "Sins of the Father" is also a powerful and memorable work that anyone looking for unusual death metal should give a listen to.

The sound of "Sins of the Father" is somewhat cleaner than that of its predecessor with the guitar becoming more prominent in the mix. I welcome this change as, great as they were, the guitar melodies of "Never Enough Snuff" didn’t stand out as much as they do here. The drums have become somewhat sharper, while Dower’s vocals are consistently malignant as always, his delivery reminding me a little of Mikael Åkerfeldt’s on Bloodbath’s first and third albums. The songs are a bit shorter than on "Never Enough Snuff", but retain just enough complexity to be neither simplistic nor overly repetitive.

Starting the album off is its first single with an epic title "Conflagration of the Dreamers". It’s a consistently powerful and catchy song the main technical riff of which reminds me of that of "Horror-Zontal". Besides that, the track offers a brief yet appropriate solo reminiscent of those of the band’s third album and unexpected harmonies by the end. The second song, "The Gory Hole" also possesses an epic riff, rabid drumming and monstrous levels of energy, which makes it similar to songs like "Flesh Furnace" and "The Peeler". The rest of the songs also offer high-quality rhythmical and melodic death metal that will be a pleasure to come back to.

While, as its predecessor, the album is not nearly as evil as the band’s self-titled ("Stargazer (The Summoning)" and "Invocation" beat both "Never Enough Snuff" and "Sins of the Father" in that sense), what it loses in heaviness it gains in technicality and diversity. While all songs besides "You Bleed, I Feed" are consistently fast-paced, elements like the eerie solo of "Man’s Best Friend" and the... metalcore-like? parts of "Last Rite" and "Shell of a Man" ensure they don’t feel uniform or redundant. Overall, the album is even stronger than its predecessor as it has no weak songs or just generally songs that feel as though they don’t belong here.

So, "Sins of the Father" is definitely the strongest death metal album this year so far. Its sheer might coupled with a huge number of interesting choices make it a truly remarkable release and also a good piece of evidence Abramelin are still strong as a band even 30 years since their debut album.

Originally written for metalbite.com.