• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

I claim that I am a big Death Metal fan, I also claim that I don't like very much Black Metal. But when done right the combination of the two can outright slay. Abused Majesty is one band who figured out the perfect mix of the two genres to get their sound. I guess one element of Black Metal that I hate is the overly shitty production that I swear has to be done on purpose. Well that was not one of the elements carried over to this disc. The production is quite clear and this makes for a very pleasing experience as opposed to an experience where I am struggling to hear what is going on. That was basically me explaining how I am a baby.

Abused Majesty use an abundance of tremolo picking and change to a progressive lead into the choruses. There is probably more Black Metal used in the music than Death Metal. The Death elements used are for the most part the drumming, some of the vocals and the breakdowns. With that said some of the riffs are a combination of both. Abused Majesty use some symphonics to complement their sound, and holy shit does it work. With the use of melodic riffing and symphonics they achieve a very dark effect. I believe each song is supposed to progress into each other – if you listen to them in order, you feel like you are there while they are playing. This effect really is shown in the song I am Destroyer of Gods; it starts off with just vocals spewing words to intimidate, and then they kick into another Melodic Black Metal riff and continue with start-stop riffing and short breakdowns with Death Metal style vocals. I can just imagine that this song would be the closer to a live set as it implements everything they use on the album. It is fast and melodic, symphonic and brutal. That is the epitome of the whole album. Abused Majesty have achieved in two albums what some fail to achieve after years of trying.

Taking parts of two different subgenres can turn out really bad. We all know this because of Deathcore. But Death/Black Metal has been around much longer and is one of the accepted types, but the same with any other hybrids there can be problems. After analyzing and tweaking what was done before, the end result can turn out priceless. A very talented band here has made a great album which you can headbang, mellow out, or straight up destroy things to at different times and it is all done to perfection.