Review by Michael on February 12, 2025.

Ah well, these were good old times when you could buy an album only because of its cover. I remember back in the 90s when stuff like "The End Complete", "Clandestine" or the super underrated "Dehumanizer" came out. Cover? Check! Music is probably great, too.

With the Polish band Abominated it is the same. I saw the cover and instantly asked for the album (thanks again for sending me and I'm really sorry for that delay in reviewing it!!). The really morbid cover is so early 90s – a fantastic job by Juanjo Castellano. There are so many similarities to the early classics by Dan Seagrave, alone this artwork is really worth mentioning.

But we are here mainly to talk about the music, I almost forgot. On Traumatic Putrefaction which is the debut album by the quintet from Warsaw you can find some pure, brutal old school death metal. Of course (and I guess that this will never ever happen again) they don't reinvent the death metal wheel but what they do here quite well is to combine some different country styles but like on most debuts, there is still some space for improvement.

While the opener "Forbidden Pleasures Of Self-Immolation (Opus Magnum .44)" is more or less some worship to the Swedish classics (preluded by a quite atmospheric intro that reminds me of some old Revel In Flesh), there are also some more brutal death metal vibes to find that are heavily inspired by bands like Immolation or Cannibal Corpse ("Stench Of Life"). Here and there are some really sick soli to fine like in "Sacrificial Defilement" or the title track which sometimes remind of good old fucking Slayer.

Entertaining and making the music a little bit more lighter and diverse are the catchier, groovy parts when the guys don't mutilate the listener but cause some blunt force trauma with a baseball bat. "Senseless Barbaric Insemination" (hell yeah, what a title!) starts with some creeping drumming but gets lost after one minute in some more brutal death metal not unlike a stinking bastard between first Dismember and old Cannibal Corpse and also the galloping part in "Blasphemous Convocation" is cool. The closer "Slave To Depravity" might be the catchiest one on the album which the band also could sell a lost Dismember track.

Talking about the instruments, the drums are pummeling relentlessly on the nine tracks as if there was no tomorrow (hats off to Ordynathor, their drummer), the guitars are buzzsawing like hell and vocalist Greg (the one or the other might know him from his other band Martyrdoom) is grunting and wheezing like hell. You can clearly hear that these guys know how to work with their instruments.

Technically they don't have to hide behind the bigger names I already dropped. Also the sound on Traumatic Putrefaction is really good; here Pawel Sota has done a really great job. But what in my humble opinion is sometimes missing is the red line in the compositions. Neither they are bad nor boring, but in some cases it sounds a little bit too chaotic. Their approach is absolutely comprehendible but sometimes a little bit less is a little bit more if you know what I mean. I guess if they had put some more catchy parts into the songs, they would keep in mind much easier. It is a really solid death metal album performed by skilled musicians but there are some nuances that are still lacking to play in the death metal Champions League.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10