Abaddon Incarnate
Dark Crusade

June 2004
Released: 2004, Xtreem Music
Rating: 3.7/5
Reviewer: Luxi Lahtinen

Nothing wins a dose of deathly Grindcore in a day, right?! Abaddon Incarnate started out as Bereaved in 1991 already - playing Death Metal back then, have finally got a lethal iron-fistful of songs together for their 3rd full-length (and their first for a Spanish label Xtreem Music), unleashing 16 new songs on this brand-new offering of theirs. First off, I have always been a bit fan of some, ´quality´ Grindcore. From the old-school Grindcore bands, the well-known classic foursome from Napalm Death to Carcass to Terrorizer to Repulsion, are the ones that have managed to impress most me and sucked my brains out over the years - and out from the ´new-school´ Grind bands, such grinding noise terrorists as Nasum and Rotten Sound have absolutely been the two leading troops on their well-built path to please me musically without any kind of doubts.



Then, on the other hand, I must confess that I feel a bit guilty for never having a chance to become familiar with this Irish 4-piece Grind -torpedo named Abaddon Incarnate. The guys, more than obviously, seem to know how to play a tightly packaged Grindcore that cuts like a heated-up knife a mountain of butter. Most of the time, however, the band has this tendency to sound like a lil´ brother of early Napalm Death, minus 25 miles per hour. Nah, or make it minus 30 miles per hour. Or whatever... But you got a picture anyway, didn´t you? Actually you are able to hear from everything that the guys aren´t in a wrestling tournament for the first time. They grind many of their competitors down quite nicely indeed with a style that only a few can be real proud of nowadays. Good Grind is always good Grind, as my ears always are willing to tell me...



The songs on DARK CRUSADE vary from 1-minute outbursts of a full-blown aggression and brutality to 2 and a half minute ´lenghty songs (ha!)´ - and damn, this shit sounds good. It really does, so if you think you well-executed and even at times a rather technically played Grindcore is your cup of tea, then you should apparently know what might me a good financial investment next... ;=)