Maximum Abduction

This is probably the coolest-looking of all Hypocrisy releases. I mean, it’s a CD shaped in the form of a chicken mutilated by aliens, how can you beat that? Anyway, Maximum Abduction was released a bit before what is arguably Hypocrisy’s most respected classic, Abducted, and contains music in the vein of that album for the most part.

The most obvious similarity is the presence of the Hypocrisy favorite, Roswell 47. This song, perhaps the band’s first “hit” alongside later beasts such as Fire in the Sky, The Final Chapter and Warpath, is a perfect representation of Peter Tägtgren’s unrelenting talent whenever the creation of slow-paced doom/death metal songs is called for. It consists of a slow series of monumental and extremely memorable riffs backed up by one of Lars Szöke’s best performances ever, while Peter’s vocals tower in their usual, harsh way. One thing that’s particularly appreciable about said vocals is that, despite being growled, every word can be understood without having recourse to the lyric sheet (not that there is one here). Roswell 47, as its title indicates, deals with the famous Roswell UFO incident and the subsequent supposed cover-ups.

As if this weren’t enough, the EP continues with another one of Abducted’s highlights, released as a single itself: Carved Up. This is a considerable faster track yet it retains most of the powerful, crushing atmosphere that every good Hypocrisy song lashes out at its listener. This is driven by a much more prominent drum pattern, some very catchy riffs and a blacker vocal approach.

The final original Hypocrisy song is Request Denied, which would later resurface within 1997’s The Final Chapter. This is another slow track but, instead of being crushing like Roswell 47, takes on an almost ballad-like sound. The guitar playing isn’t as harsh as elsewhere (it’s clean and very melodic by contemporaneous Hypocrisy standards), the drumming is dead slow and rather toned-down and the vocals consist of a mix between the usual growls and some soft cleanly-sung portions. The overall result is a song which sounds more like doom metal with some hints of atmospheric death than anything else.

With those three songs, this EP could’ve been damn perfect, if only they had left it there or added an original live song at the end. But no, Peter chose to cover one of the biggest sell-out bands in existence: Kiss. This cover hurts, because it doesn’t fit in among the Hypocrisy masterpieces and because it’s actively irritating. The riffs are far too repetitive for their mediocre quality while the vocal lines are weak. That isn’t to say that Peter’s performance sucks since I blame the original band for writing so damn redundant and weak in the first place. Sure Peter shouldn’t have chosen to cover this crap, but the blame is his only partially.

Is Maximum Abduction worth having? For novelty reasons and for the sheer quality of the Hypocrisy songs within, the answer must be a definite yes. On the other hand, the cover at the end makes for a seriously imperfect release, while the last two tracks are available with reissues of The Fourth Dimension. But what fun is that when you could own your very own chicken-shaped disc and cool jewel case?