Review by Chris Pratl on June 5, 2018.

As a general rule, the technical side of death metal tends to lull me more than excite me. I'm not big on bands like Nile as they simply don't do much in the way of entertaining me from a death metal point of view. I'm from the school that death metal should be this foggy, ethereal element hanging heavily over the listener's head like a dense, enigmatic cloud that burrows into the ears with all of the ease of a malfunctioning trip hammer on the slow speed. For my personal tastes, death metal today relies too heavily on making the guitars sound pinpoint perfect and triggered drums allowing for all of the grunt work. At best, it's disheartening; at worst, it's a musical disgrace that makes the genre feel ho hum.

All of this aside, there are rare exceptions to this personal rule of mine, and Alabama's Chaos Inception manages to combine both old and new elements into its sophomore release, The Abrogation. There is an air, a vibe if you will, surrounding this album that creates that aforementioned haze and is central to the death metal genre, instilling feelings of thick, abiding rage. I'm left with the obvious Hate Eternal and even Nile feelings in some of the riffs and arrangements, but there is nothing tame or rudimentary about Chaos Inception.

The first thing I notice is the presence of a bass! Yes, Virginia, there is a bass! Criminally undervalued in far too many a DM record, that familiar humming in my ears makes me even more prepared to take on the nearly 30-minutes before me. Just five minutes into the album and I'm completely entranced and properly violated in all the right areas of my brain. Vocally, you have your typical death metal growls but with a definitive flair for enunciation and a familiar subjugating presence, ala Peter of Vader's camp minus the 'barking' yell. Aside from intelligent time changes and this amazing 'sweeping' effect of some of the riffs, The Abrogation seems to find the very crevices of the brain and dig deep into each of them to assure longevity in the memory bank.

As for the overall production, it's thick, resonating, foreboding, encompassing, and any other adjective you think might fit well when an album just crushes you under its mighty weight and forces you into a cocoon of submission. Here we have a happy mixture of that dense production that makes Grave or Nihilist so revered and the faint crispness of modern technology that allows the fan and fellow musician to really enjoy the little nuances that either make or break a record from this beloved genre. There are so many different riffs and elements to these songs, which is also a rarity these days since most death metal releases tend to meld into one long track without much in the way of variation or style. A track like "Black Blood Vortex" with its violent vocals and tremendously evil riffing can still provide the same inner turmoil as "Ancient Ways Prevail," a much slower, albeit uglier track among these nine pieces of DM artistry. 

When I started seeing recommendations as to how good this CD is from the gallery on my social media page, I was even more excited to pop it in at the first chance I got. So far I'm on my third listen and it gets stronger with every passing digestion. Alabama's on the map, kids, and Chaos Inception will hopefully be putting out more of the same here in the very near future. Credulity and style are still very much alive in The Abrogation.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

(Originally written for www.metalpsalter.com)

Review by Carl on June 21, 2023.

Take one look at that album cover, and if you can't guess what to expect immediately, you can skip this review altogether, because this is not going to be for you. Sincerely, your gatekeeping arsehole reviewer.

There are no prizes for guessing what these guys play. A red logo on a black and white drawing of a goat's head and bullet belts with "Satan" in big letters on the front, that's not gonna sound like Phil Collins teaming up with Adele and Coldplay to write the world's most boring song, now is it? Imagine Black Witchery and Archgoat teaming up, with a pinch of earliest Incantation added, and that's really all that there is to say. The guitars sound like meth-fueled swarms of psychotic hornets, underpinned by a battering barrage of percussion and a gravel-throated roar dropped on top of that. The songs alternate between either ferocious rage propelled by blast beats aplenty, or else slow down to a crushing crawl that would have any garden snail remarking to pick up the pace. Wrapped into a raw but powerful production, that could perhaps have used some more guitar and bass, this stuff hits the bestial black/death spot without fail, and even in this overcrowded microverse, this holds up well enough to convince any satanic punter out there.

Thus remains the fact that this sounds like pretty much everyone else in that niche world. I don't really mind that, but at the same time I get this "here comes another one" feeling from it. Still, being the above average release it is, I find it well worth the time. In a scene that relies on bloodthirsty aggression first and foremost, it sure delivers on that front, while sounding equally as menacing as the better releases out there, even if the sound quality slightly goes up and down throughout the album. Other than that, nothing but praise and a sweet peck on the cheek for these guys.

Besides, no one bats an eyelid at the legion of Elvis impersonators out there, so why would anyone take offense at yet another war metal act, right?

Rating: 7.5 out of 10