Abduction Ritual

From my listening experiences, it seems a good chunk of Satanic death metal can't shake it's black metal influences, and in many cases ends up being a sinister cocktail of the two genres. This is far from a complaint, as this is a beautifully disgusting melt of my two favorite genres in the realm of metal. Enter Abduction Ritual, the first and last album of death/black metal speed demons Fallen Christ.

Abduction Ritual is a whirlwind of specters, devils, and wraiths whizzing past your skull as Lucifer's tome is barked, screamed, growled and howled into your ears in fragments, leaving you to wonder what in the absolute fuck just happened. It's a 22-track hurricane that clocks in at only 46:37 with most tracks being less than two minutes long. In these micro-songs, cyclonic drums are constantly pummeling in your ears with steady double kicks and gruff fills while chaotic anti-riffs are splashed across the mix like virgin blood. And the vocals... the god damn vocals. I'm guessing this band split up because Ronnie Collins, the vocalist, was exorcised, because he sounds like he just emerged out of the mantle's thickest magma.

The lyrics read like hymns especially in tracks like "Satanas" and the title track "Abduction Ritual". While these tracks reference Satan (of course) and other evil Judeo-Christian entities such as Azazel, there is a great focus on referencing ancient Semitic (Sumerian, Mesopotamian) entities such as Ishtar, Mantus, Shamash, Inanna, and Tiamat (who many say is just another version of Satan). Ronnie seems to know his stuff.

This record is absolutely insane and sounds like a much more anarchic and deranged Immolation. My only gripes are that the drums, while being my favorite part of the album, are much too loud in the mix, and that the compositions are at times a little too similar. However, the songs are so short that it doesn't make much of a difference that they are so alike. Fallen Christ has created and solidified their own brand of raw chaos. Now let it knock you on your ass.

As the onimous synths kick in, you think you know what's going to come, but when it does come, you are totally unprepared for what comes. This is really hard to describe. It's mainly not grindcore, but it's also identfiably death metal. maybe more DM than grind. There's also a black metal influence over this, mostly in the lyrics, but also in the music. I suppose you could call this "really fast death metal" but most death metal bands are fast as it is, and this description makes you think of Cryptopsy and Necrophagist, which it is a million miles away from.

The vocals on this are just stunning. Like a mixture of Dave Vincent and Lord Worm, except far more demented. The guitars are almost thrash-like at times, mixed with Deicide/Morbid Angel worship, and the odd grind-y moment. The drums blister along with no relent, barely stopping for breath and with some amazing fills. The lyrics are taken directly from the liner notes of Deicide, Morbid Angel, Incantation and Immolation albums, being generic Satanic fare, but they are effective.

Highlights would have to be the 5 minute long "Satanas (Luciferions)", with it's spooky atmospheric mid-section and the extended 9 minute version included at the end, "Tiamat Massa" with it's chants, "Burn of The Altar" and "In The Name of Satan".

The only downfall I can think of is that it's fairly one-dimensional. Once you've heard one of these songs, you've mostly heard them all. But then again, bar a couple of notable exceptions, what death metal or grind album isn't one-dimensional? This is DM the way it should be done, and it is enjoyable, and I like it.

This is a bit of an oddity in death metal circles. I can't really think of a band who sound like these guys, they are totally unique. The closest I can think of is what Terrorizer would sound like if Dave Vincent was the main songwriter and did vocals as well as bass. It's verging on grind, and is really technical , but is neither of these genres. Put simply, this is a very enjoyable death metal album, if somewhat leftfield. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys old school death metal, and wants something a bit different.

Death metal in its entirety has always been attached more or less to the hardcore punk offshoot, grindcore. Some of the earliest proto-death metal bands have either started off as purely grindcore bands or taken a lot of influence from the hard hitting, vicious musical movement. Some of these entities went on to do great things, others faded into obscurity. Either way, I think that grindcore has probably brought more positive endowments to the death metal genre than any other non-metal factor involved. Despite the laconic attitude that modern grind artists (hell, many metal bands suffer the same ailment) appear to take to their material, the budding death metal scene surely absorbed the better traits of the style. From Repulsed to Cannibal Corpse (chuckle all you want, Cannibal Corpse is a very important death metal band regardless of their own flaws or insufferable attributes), you will find a plethora of characteristics that death metal has more or less borrowed from grind, although some bands may let this shine through in an obvious fashion or subtly conceal the influence. Fallen Christ is one that would belong in the former category.

I mark a distinct and huge comparison to death metal legend Deicide, in Fallen Christ's presentation and technique. Invocations to the dark lord Lucifer are abundant in this collection of songs. The lyrics provide a healthy dose of anti-Christianity that any fan of the previously mentioned Satanic death metal juggernaut would appreciate. Although this may be the single largest parallel to make, there are most certainly other interesting things going on here. Sparsely decorating the album are slow, churning passages that Morbid Angel is famous for; not quite doom-like in design but more creepy and sinister. When the band isn't blaspheming the desert god with their hideous and abrasive Satanic death/grind riffs, you will get one of those surprisingly atmospheric lulls; a break from the onslaught of more than sufficiently quick riffs that really does wonders to keep you interested in the album. Blast beats pepper the album tastefully, never going full-out which is something I personally appreciate. I can't really stand when a metal band thinks it's a good idea to use them nonstop, it's usually a bad idea. Most of the tracks are of short length, another characteristic that grindcore is known for. The production quality is notably of the old-school variety, as one might no doubt assume. The main course is meaty and bloody, cooked rare over an open fire. No pomp or fluff, just 100% beef.