THE CONCUBINE

It is difficult to listen to THE CONCUBINE's "Abaddon" without recalling bands like ANIMOSITY and, to a lesser extent, THROUGH THE EYES OF THE DEAD. Depending on your listening preferences, that can be a very good thing or a very bad thing. On their second album (and first for Corrosive Recordings) the New Jersey group tears through eight tracks of what one might term modern death metal, the kind that has metalcore elements (those familiar chugs, breakdowny parts),but is not exactly metalcore. Most fans of the style will be pleasantly surprised at the 29 minutes of "Abaddon", even if much of it will sound familiar.

Technically speaking, the musicians of THE CONCUBINE have got chops and manage to meld enough stop-start tempos with chunky riffs and a fair amount of melody to give the songs some personality. Together with a slew of accomplished solos and melodic leads that will remind at times of BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME, the concoction offers many moments of head-banging worthiness. The dual vocal approach consisting of traditional, and basically decipherable, death growls and high-end shrieks is pulled off quite well, adding another layer of dynamics to the arrangements, as well as giving emphasis to the melodies when required. A big positive is the sound mix, which boasts a lot of crispness and clear instrument separation. It also sounds good on a decent car stereo system.

None of this is to say that you won't get a feeling of "been-there-done-that" throughout much of "Abaddon". I wouldn't call the music of "Abaddon" formulaic, but an awful lot of bands are at least dabbling in the style heard here. THE CONCUBINE has not reached the technical mastery nor the compositional excellence achieved by ALL SHALL PERISH on "The Price of Existence". Still, one can hear that the boys are heading down that road. All in all, I enjoyed this one, even if it will not make the heavy rotation list.