Aborym - Dirty

Artist: Aborym

Album: Dirty

Label: Agonia Records

Released: June 11th, 2013

Genre: Industrial black metal

Three years after Psychogrotesque, the avant-garde black metal band Aborym have released their sixth studio album Dirty.

The current line up of Aborym consists of Italians Fabban on vocals, bass and synths and Paolo Pieri (Hour Of Penance) on guitars, keyboards and programming, together with Norway’s Bard “Faust” Eithun (Blood Tsunami, Mongo Ninja, ex-Emperor) on drums.

Dirty spans two CDs, and contains 11 new songs, 3 covers and 2 re-arranged older tracks; fans of Aborym have enough material to quench their thirst from waiting 3 years for this album.

Describing the sound of Aborym is a mere impossible task. Would you get a mental image from the description of avant-garde industrial experimental black metal? According to Allmusic, Aborym play “a truly original brand of futuristic black metal with jagged samples, electronic drums, and industrial overtones, making Aborym's peculiar sound very hard to pin down or define”.

Overall, Dirty sounds like extreme metal, more than industrial. The pessimism and nihilism of black metal pass through their music like a red thread, even though all tracks are deeply laced with electronics.

One of the tracks on which the marriage between black metal and industrial seems to transcend previously determined borders of the genres is “Face The Reptile”, with its dark and enthralling groove that makes it suitable to be played in the wee hours at a goth club. On other tracks, the bits of black metal and the pieces of industrial seem to alternate rather than coexist.

Here and there, Dirty flirts with post-rock. “The Day The Sun Stopped Shining” boasts a post-rock intermezzo, and “I Don't Know” seems to borrow from Radiohead, although the accessible rock sound has been distorted into something grotesque that mocks all poppy sounds and turns them into scrap.

“Firewalk With Us” comes with a wink to melodic death metal giants In Flames and their catchy choruses. The title track “Dirty” vaguely reminds me of a mashed-up version of “Firestarter” by The Prodigy, whereas “Across The Universe” could be hailed as a new nihilist anthem.

The three covers on Dirty are “Hallowed Be Thy Name” by Iron Maiden, “Comfortably Numb” by Pink Floyd and “Hurt” by Nine Inch Nails – and they are a bit of a disappointment.

With a band as eclectic in style and as creative as Aborym, it's quite a surprise to see that the covers are staying mostly true to the original. Especially the cover of “Comfortable Numb” is a mere copy of the original. This might be Aborym's tribute to the great work of Pink Floyd, but not something that fits Aborym's original style.

Overall, Dirty is a fascinating record. When the blend between electronics and black metal works without segregating the styles, the resulting futuristic extreme metal is creative masterpiece.

Take a listen: The Day the Sun Stopped Shining

Buy Aborym - Dirty