Aborted - Global Flatline Review

I must admit that I’ve not paid too much attention to Aborted since their Goremaggedon… days. An endlessly rotating lineup, overt flirtations with deathcore that were obviously designed to appeal to the Summer Slaughter crowd and no one else, mediocre albums that were mailed in at best, you name it, Aborted devolved rather quickly into a sea of mediocrity.

Apparently, Aborted themselves are aware of this and are now attempting to reinvent themselves once again by supposedly re-embracing their gore metal roots. Part of the problem with this is that founding member, vocalist Sven de Caluwe is the only member of Aborted to have been in the band prior to 2009 (the current musicians in Aborted appear to have roots in deathcore-related type bands).

Whatever you may have thought of Aborted’s first few albums (and first few American, pre-Summer Slaughter tours for that matter; I saw the band open for Cryptopsy about six or seven years ago or so and they nearly stole the show), this is a totally new band calling themselves Aborted.

So, after all that exposition, what about Global Flatline? Have Aborted returned to their chunky gore metal roots, or, like the last album from Aborted, the saccharine Strychnine.213 from 2008, do we have yet another exercise in pedestrian deathcore? The answer lies somewhere in between with a sprawling, 14-track album with a running time of about 45 minutes.

Aborted are a bit all over the place. Like their last few albums, there is still a heavy deathcore influence designed to appeal to the masses with loud, high pitched vocals and a whirlwind of speed reminiscent of the latest from Decapitated. But Aborted also slow things down here and there and add some melody with a few pointed guitar solos, particularly deep into the album. A few attempts are made at hooks and riffs, but Aborted fall a bit flat in this sense as nothing really sticks out except for a re-recording of a classic track (which shall remain nameless) from the band’s 1995 debut, Engineering The Dead, which is tacked on as a bonus track.

That being said, Global Flatline is technically flawless with stellar, spot on musicianship on full display with a few good songs. The end result is an album that is a step in the right direction, as Aborted have obviously worked hard on Global Flatline, but ends up being bland. Global Flatline will undoubtedly appeal to fans of modern death metal (whatever that means) and, in particular, deathcore, but will probably still disappoint those that prefer the band’s earlier material.

(released January 24, 2012 on Century Media Records)

Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.