North Carolina’s Abhorrent Deformity are relative newcomers to the metal world, but with their new LP, Entity Of Malevolence, they have quickly established themselves as serious contenders in the slam death metal arena. For those unfamiliar with the term “slam death,” just take your standard brutal death metal, slow it down to a more groove-oriented pace, and add breakdowns that move back and forth between frets (as opposed to the single note breakdowns found in deathcore). Fans of this particular subset of death metal will find a lot to like on Entity Of Malevolence.
Abhorrent Deformity play in an extremely low guitar tuning, with super groovy riffs full of enough pinched harmonics to give any Zakk Wylde fan wet dreams. Vocally, there’s a decent range of styles, from guttural inhaled vocals, super deep death growls, and even some more mid-ranged screams, all of which are often layered on top of each other in the mix. The tracks “Buried Beneath Human Remains” and “Stench Of The Decomposed” even have a few flashes of higher pitched shrieks that could almost pass for black metal vocals. Abhorrent Deformity’s drummer plays a lot of blast-beats, but manages to avoid sounding monotonous, changing the pace up enough to compliment the grooves laid down by the guitars.
Although there’s very little melody to speak of in this LP, that should be no problem for fans of brutal death metal anyway, though it could be a bit tedious for the uninitiated. The production is excellent, with plenty of each individual member (and even each individual piece of the drum kit) in the mix, while avoiding sounding too busy or muddy. Abhorrent Deformity have crafted a solid death metal record that will appeal to fans of Devourment and Disgorge. If you’re not a fan of the whole slam death thing, this release likely won’t change your mind, but if you like your death metal groovy with plenty of slam-style breakdowns, this will make a great addition to your collection.