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Hypocrisy > Maximum Abduction > Reviews
Hypocrisy - Maximum Abduction

The Headless Chicken EP - 80%

MaDTransilvanian, May 28th, 2010

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?

Mutilated Chicken Metal - 75%

oneyoudontknow, July 11th, 2007

This album was the first shape-CD ever released by Nuclear Blast and it is possible to play it in a CD-Rom to rip it. Surprised? Well, the special edition of Hypocrisy’s The Final Chapter with its alien-head-like design has some aversions to my computer or vice versa… who knows. Perhaps the PC is actually able to recognize its shape and assumes some software from outer space might be installed if the disk will be read by the drive and thus this attempt is prevented in the first place. But why the hell is then this mutilated and abducted chicken-like CD accepted? Is there some subliminal communication going on between my PC and me which I have not been able to notice? Is my PC a chicken molester?

Anyway, the album starts with Roswell 47, one of Hypocrisy’s best songs, especially in the old version of the Abduction and not the clean version of the 10 Years of Chaos and Confusion record. The riffs of this track are easily recognizable out of hundreds and Peter Tägtgren was able to condense the strengths of this era in to one song. In a way it is a perfect opener for a live concert with its slow beginning and evolution into a very catchy Death Metal track. Should it be mentioned that the vocals have a good share on the atmosphere with their pending between growls and screams? It has become a trademark of the band to use different vocal styles to express the lyrics, which often end in some high-pitched screaming at the end of a verse and even though this attempt has been repeated in a huge number of songs, it never has become odd or the like.

Nearly gapless is the lead over to Carved Up, a much faster and more aggressive song than the predecessor. The riffs are denser, but still mid-tempo, as are the drums, even though the double-bass is used more intensively than on the first track. Different is the song also in the composition itself, as a break takes some momentum out of it and a short solo-like interlude makes it more interesting than the track-opener, yet comparing both Carved Up has not the overall quality, but it is still a good Death Metal track. It is hard to say of what the song is lacking of, perhaps it sound just too ordinary and has not the last kick it push it unto a higher level.

Taking from the Fourth Dimension record is the track Request Denied, a song a little bit in vain of Roswell 47 with its slower tempo and riff-structure. A sad atmosphere is created through the clean vocals at the beginning, which are later replaced by typical Death Metal growls. Like the first two tracks this one has been written in the very melody oriented style and would also work good live, with the slow, but intensive use of the guitar riffs.

Those who know Hypocrisy a little bit better and have followed them over the years will know that Peter Tägtgren is a huge fan of the band Kiss and with a cover of Strange Ways he presented to the fans on this record not only his admiration for them, but also how he would interpret their music. Every time I listen to the album, I am somehow irritated by the opening of the track, as it sounds not like a typical Death Metal one and so I have to remind myself that this is a cover and supposed to be this way. Do I like the track or not? In a way the song has some moments, but it also sounds rather odd, because the riffs are quite uncommon and simple written. It is really easy-listening music and Hypocrisy is not able to plaster even though they have a different musical background and I do think it was meant to be very close to the original.

The production is like all of Peter Tägtgren’s ones before and thereafter an excellent one and on the album there is nothing sounding out of place or strange in any way. All instruments have a lot of power and are clearly distinguishable on all songs. It is a nice and enjoyable album, even though it is rather short, but this is compensated by the eye-catcher of the mutilated chicken. If you friends always thought you were retarded because of your strange taste of music (long hair, short brain), a glance on this shape-CD will confirm them in their opinion about you. Finally only the question remains why my PC accepts this CD and not the other one.