Abnormality : " Mechanisms of Omniscience"

The girl singer might get you in the door, but once you are in the heaviness will bowl you over, yet it is tempered with good songwriting. They do not forget that groove is in the heart, they do however let up on it for the sake of brutality on the second song.Perhaps not the grind core band they might think they are, they do flirt with it a little with some of the faster snare tapping here and there. The songs are very concise, sometimes dropping down into almost Slayer like gallops. The title track is fairly speedy, with the weight of the band resting on the drummers shoulders.

 Mallika Sundaramurthy tortures her throat with a rather one dimensional low growl, that is fairly typical of death metal. When little lashes of magic in production add some effects here and there it gives it a little more luster, but her strength is knowing where to put these coarse grunts. By the fourth song things get a little cloudy and I have to go back and get another listen. This listen told me it was a very short instrumental section that would have been better served as the intro to the song that follows. They go for the throat in a manner that reminds me of Deicide's "Once Upon the Cross" album. The album has a very modern sound, but puts the value in song writing and aggression that 90s death metal coming out of Tampa once had. These guys just fire off into more of a blur sometimes. They step up the aggression a little on "Irreversible".It doesn't have the nuance of the other songs and I begin to check out a little. I think once we are into 7 song of this brand of death metal I begin to check out a little as things start seeing the same hammering patterns cycling in and out. Songs like "Hopeless Masses" begin to run on it's speed fueled mean spirit snarl and finds the songs painted in a monochrome coat of blood red.


 The rest of the album begins to become a blur, I can't tell the songs apart. It's the nature of this beast. The closing song has more defining traits that just being a machine pounding at your temples. There drummer is crazy, but this music loses it's hold on me as heavy alone just doesn't do it for me. There are moments with in the machine like blur that have more punch, but I would like to hear more of a dynamic range. If not I am sure I'll catch up with Mallika by the release of their next album in the pages of Revolvers hottest chicks in metal. I'll give this one a 7, if you just want brutal death metal then it's worth your time, as long as you don't ask much more from them.


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