Aborym - Generator
Season of Mist – SOM 123 – February 2006
By Nathan Pearce
Let’s get the obvious out of the way first.
Aborym is a strange band. I don’t mean that in a bad way. This band has always been truly unique in every aspect. The music has always been entirely their own creation. They’ve never followed trends. Hell, even the band members have been a little on the strange side . . . again, not a bad thing.
So what are we supposed to make of
Generator. After
Aborym basically established a sub-genre of black metal all to themselves (something like electro/techno/cyber metal), they’ve gone and done a complete turn around . . . or to be more precise, they’ve put the music in complete reverse.
Generator is still essentially a black metal album, but the music moves at a much more standard pace. No more hyper speed drum machine blast beats, no more dance grooves underlying the pure evil emanating from Attila’s vocals. In fact, the drums are all authentic (no machines), courtesy of Bard G. Eithun, aka Faust (ex-
Emperor), and the vocals are now done by Prime Evil (
Mysticum). These two changes account for basically 99% of the turn around in musical style. Prime Evil’s vocals are just brilliant; although, I don’t mean to belittle the amazing job Attila did in the past. Furthermore, the drums add an entirely different element to
Aborym. It’s almost as if
Aborym is such a strong entity, they can survive, and even thrive, on any type of musical palette.
Now that I’ve basically confused everybody by stating that
Aborym practically invented a sub-genre of metal, only to nearly abandon it on this release. Let me say this.
Aborym has always been an industrial type of black metal band, and that element hasn’t left.
Generator still seethes with samples and synthesizers. It’s just that with the real drums and Prime Evil’s vocals, I can now see MANY more people being able to tolerate the chaos that
Aborym creates. Past releases were somewhat difficult to listen to for the average metal head.
Generator, on the other hand, contains a slightly gentler mix of songs. I can see fans of everything from
Nevermore to the most grim and filthy of black metal bands enjoying this album.
If you’re a diehard fan of
Fire Walk With Us and that style of
Aborym, I will caution you that
Generator is an entirely different beast. I think enough of the industrial aspects have carried over to satisfy the diehards, however. New fans should eat this up. If looked at on its own,
Generator is a top notch metal album. I don’t want to limit this album by simply calling it black metal. With the addition of real drums, the more mid-paced songs, and Prime Evil’s vocals,
Aborym is now a band that should appeal to a wider audience without alienating their already solid fan base.
8/10
UM’s Review Rating Scale
Aborym’s Official Website
Season of Mist’s Official Website
