Aborted Fetus: Devoured Fetuses (2005)

I love slam death metal, but finding new bands to listen to is not always easy.  The biggest issue is the lack of a "slam" genre tag on the Metal Archives, or at least a very infrequently used one.  So I am often relying on word of mouth or reviews, neither of which is always accurate.  The other option is to stick to bands I am already familiar with, which brings me to Aborted Fetus.

I previously reviewed the Russian slam band's 2010 full-length Fatal Dogmatic Damage, and quite enjoyed it.  I especially enjoyed the ridiculous lyrics and song titles like "Aquarium with Dead Souls".  I came across this 2005 EP when I was searching for some other stuff and decided to take a chance on it since I did enjoy other material from the band and I am always on the lookout for more slam.

This is just a five-song EP and the last song is a cover of song by German pornogrind band Gut.  The EP was released a few years before the band released their first full-length album, and as such, is quite raw.  And that is saying something for slam.  The production is actually really impressive for the style with a nice tone on the guitars and clear instrumentation.  Of course the riffs are big and heavy.  At this point in the band's existence, the band has more in common with brutal death metal than slam.  There are moments where the band gets into a breakdown, but there is generally much more still going on than the typical slam parts.  The vocals are fairly typical for the genre though.

I enjoy this EP quite a bit, though it is maybe borderline in the slam genre.  It is highly competent brutal death metal that goes for quite a bit of extra brutality.  It's crushingly heavy and intense and absolutely sick and vile in all of the right ways.