The debut from Italian melodeath quartet Abeyance was released late last year through Sliptrick Records, and is the culmination of two years work to create something personal and unique to them. ‘Portraits of Mankind’ is out now.
The opening title track has plenty of really nice riffs, and has good grasp on the balance between melodies and aggression. I really like the propulsive catchiness of ‘In Falsehood Dominion’, which also has a touch of the epic about it in certain sections. This feels like quite an old school melodeath record, like early In Flames or Dark Tranquillity rather than newer influences. There’s no clean vocals which is a strange bonus I thought afterwards, and everything seem concentrated on creating simple yet effective metal music. ‘Mine are Sorrow and Redemption’ has a nice piano accompaniment which provides a pleasant addition, and that same instrument returns in the final track intro with aplomb.
The chunky riffing that opens ‘Innerscape’ feel very Amon Amarth-esque, but lacking a little of that band’s grandeur. Closing with the epic fury of ‘Secretly I Joined Dark Horizons’, Abeyance have hit upon a pretty good old school melodeath style that feels quite different in the shiny modern metal world. ‘Portraits of Mankind’ is for those of us that need just a little less melodic in our melodeath, and Abeyance know the score.
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The Killchain 