Review Summary: A fairly solid death metal demo.
And yes, the singer is a girl.
Rock Band 2 is an awesome game. The song selection is great, the graphics are good, the game is great for parties, and the whole atmosphere the game creates just works. Why am I talking about Rock Band 2 you ask? I bring it up because this is how I would say 95% of people heard about the band that I am reviewing right now.
Abnormality's song '
Visions' was featured in Rock Band 2, and I am proud to say that I have beaten it on expert drums a few times.
Unlike their band name, Abnormality is unique for many reasons. For one thing, they definately do
not use conventional song structures. None of the songs on this demo simply go verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus like we are so accustomed too. Also unlike many modern death metal bands, their singer is a girl. I didn't believe it at first either, but listen closely and you can hear the feminine tone in her voice (or go watch the 'Visions- vocals only' video on YouTube).
So this 3-song demo CD starts out with '
Visions', which is the best song here. The intro features some great blast beating (whoever the drummer in this band is, he's awesome). The next part of the song deatures some cool double bass gallops, which I have never heard done like this before. After a repeat of the previous two sections comes the next part of the song, which again features some great blast beating- in this song, the fast double bass work is almost contant. The weakest part of this song is probably the breakdown- while I like it, I feel they could have done something more with it. After the breakdown comes some awesome gravity blast beating (look it up). Then the final part of the song is a fitting ending, with cymbal hits everywhere and a fast guitar riff overtop of Melinka's (I think that's her name) screams and growls.
'We have got to realize that we are being conditioned on a mass scale. Start challenging this corporate slave state!' That voice sample opens up the next song '
Question', which also happens to be my least favourite song on the demo. It sounds an awful lot like the last song, and while it contains some great gravity blast beating, it kinda feels as though the drummer is just trying to fit as many crazy fills and advanced drum techniques into the song as possible at times. This song also contains a guitar solo, unlike the previous track. The ending breakdown of the song is good though, but the lyrics feel kinda bland.
'
Epitomize the Weak' is the last song on the demo, and opens up with a bang. There's no guitar or drum intro here- no pick up, and no count-in. The song just starts just starts full into the whole band playing the song. The double bass work here is awesome as always, and this song also contains an excellent guitar solo, which appears about halfway through the song. The pick-tapping at the end of the solo is great, but the solo feels kinda quiet. The breakdown appears a short distance after the solo. The last 33 seconds of this song are awesome though. An explosive, fast guitar riff is played overtop of some gravity blasting, with some screaming and growling appearing at some points.
Overall, this is a pretty good demo. '
Visions' is the best song on here, '
Question' is the worst, and '
Epitomize the Weak' is in the middle. If you're a fan of death metal then you should definately check this demo out. In fact, if you are a fan of any sort of metal whatsoever then I would recommend this to you (at least the first and last song). I believe this band is recording a full length album now, so stay tuned for that.
