### Abadden: Sentenced to death

#### 25/02/10 || Euthanatos

You can tell the guys in this band are ridiculously young for 2 reasons; namely, their pictures, which blatantly show boys barely out of their teenage years. Secondly, the album’s name is “Sentenced to Death”. Juvenile to say the least. The thrash metal Abadden are putting forward in their debut is far from an immature outing, though. Surprisingly well-crafted, it switches from groovy breakdowns to speed metal riffing effortlessly.

The production could be better, sure, but I’m not about to call this shitty. This is a very decent sound, the guitars are crisp, the drums sound a bit muddled, but there’s power in ‘em, and even the bass makes a worthy apparition. That’s pretty good, innit? The vocals are quite up front in the mix, and that’s much to my liking. Unfortunately, I didn’t care for the vocals per se. They sound weak and not-quite-there yet, like a 12 year old’s voice, swinging dubiously between a girlish squeak of his childhood years and the baritone of more manly ways. Still, this is thrash, so as long as its raspy and aggressive, we’ll take it. It sounds more old-school than anything, think Venom and Possessed, and you’ll get an idea. The vocals, not the band.

The band, and this is the most interesting aspect of Abadden for me, is quite hard to pin down. I can’t, for the life of me, think of anyone else to compare them to. That’s fucking impressive for a debut act, particularly when we’re talking about thrash metal, where everybody sounds like everybody else. Sure, at times, like in “Violent Assault”, Abadden remind me of early Kreator and Dark Angel, but their faster outings with shouted backing vocals are pure early Anthrax. Notice the “early” every time. Yeap, the description on “Sentenced to Death” was old-school thrash metal, and that’s precisely it. God knows what’s about to happen to the world if labels are finally getting things right.

These little fuckers here, they may be young, but they know what the fuck they’re doing. The songwriting is top-notch and surprisingly creative. Yes, Abadden, I’m fucking impressed, so fuck me with a golden dildo. Finally someone who has come into the bandwagon without actually having the intention of being part of a bandwagon. Not, I have to admit it, Abadden is nothing if not unique. Look out, because once some hair grows on these kids’ balls, there might not be any way to stop them. Stop touching yourselves and keep ‘em coming, lads, because it’s good stuff.

The cover: Some chick thrashed to shit. Serves her right, probably didn’t shut the fuck up when she should have.

- Information
- Released: 2010
- Label: Rising Records
- Website: Abadden MySpace
- Band
- Dan: vocals, guitars
- Billy: guitars, vocals
- John Blunt: bass
- James Bell: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Sentenced To Death
- 02. My Misery
- 03. Violent Assault
- 04. Atomic Devastation
- 05. The Hand That Feeds
- 06. Resurrection
- 07. Into The Dark
- 08. The Day Of Reckoning