Abraded - Unadulterated Perversity

Perhaps a bit less perverted than they’d like.

(Originally submitted to the Metal Archives on May 4th 2024) 

I have some rather fond memories of Abraded’s self-titled debut. It wasn’t anything particularly special, it was a simple, yet well-executed, slab of grind that thrived on its brevity and disgusting sound, nothing more. There was the occasional interesting idea here and there but it wasn’t enough to blow your mind. Nevertheless, I decided that I wouldn’t mind hearing anything they might put out in the future. And wouldn’t you know it, they actually did release their sophomore, Unadulterated Perversity a year after the fact. I went in without much in the way of expectations and came out rather confused, certainly not something I expect feeling when it comes to deathgrind.

I mean seriously, why the fuck is there shredding in this album? This came as a total shock right from the title track, which is probably the fastest I’ve seen a band declare a mission statement. And that isn’t the only time we see out-of-place solos rear their ugly head, as seen with the inexplicably bluesy segment on the otherwise crushing “Putrefying Cunnilingis”, or the even more bewildering “They Die”, a tune that features a straight-up stoner rock/metal riff. I will admit, there are times where the shreddy leadwork actually comes together nicely, like the squealing on “Capricious Anamnesis” and the spectral passage in “Noxious Fumes”, but every time you hear the guitars wander away from playing riffs it’s a crapshoot as to whether they’ll rip your face off or take you out of the experience.

This is an uneven album, to say the least. Seeing two people credited as having played all the instruments really gives the impression of there having been way too many cooks in the kitchen. This is further reflected by the fact that the Unadulterated Perversity is a whole 13 minutes longer than its predecessor, meaning that by grind standards we have a double album in our hands. Things run the gamut across multiple moods, and neither feels all that fleshed out or cohesive when put into perspective. Riddle me this, how do the impotent gang vocals on “Nothing Left to Lose” fit with the crawling tremolo riffing on “The Hillsnatch” and the slamming “Capricious Anamnesis”? The answer is, not all that well. They really just decided to throw all kinds of excrement on the wall and see what sticks, and the scatological collage found here is a mixed bag at the best of times. Sure, I could single out a good handful of tunes and theoretically make the “ideal” sequel to the self-titled, but is that really judging the sophomore on its own merits? After all, art is meant to be confronted on its own terms after all, regardless of whether I like it or not.

There really are tunes that work here though, and they feel like a logical progression from where Abraded left off. The discordant bounce of “Ontologically Recapitulated Phylogenesis”, or the duelling tremolo riffs on “Hide”, not to mention the doomy closer. Admittedly, they might still feel a bit too busy or ambitious, but at the very least there’s a logical throughline that ties them together, and had the group been a little more focused we could’ve had a real gem in our hands. Just about everything I enjoyed about their music is still here, the breathy sewer growls, the fetid sounding production with its slinky guitars and clattering bass, but it’s been so heavily diluted that enjoying what I’m hearing requires picking everything apart. It’s a deathgrind release man, all I want is to have something nasty bash my head in for a while and make me do a stank face every few minutes, and yet here I am dissecting this like it’s a prog album.

I’ve already used the cook allegory too many times in my recent reviews, but I’ll be damned if it doesn’t ring true here. It’s even more frustrating because there’s something really good buried in Unadulterated Perversity’s rotten bowels. Upon starting it, a voice rasps “I wanna hear some pervert music”, a sentiment that I shared with it, but as it turns out, even what is perverted here requires me to dig through multiple layers of an identity crisis and some rather vanilla music. I tend to commend bands for trying new things and stepping out of their comfort zone, and Abraded isn’t anything but ambitious here, but that can only get you so far when you can’t channel it into something cohesive.

Highlights: The Hillsnatch, Capricious Anamnesis, Hide, Noxious Fumes

Rating: 51%