Firespawn - Abominate

With all the many different bands out there filled with reputable musicians who have made several different side projects, there’s a literal world to choose from. Easily, Firespawn is a name that has become synonymous for me to the closest thing death metal will ever get to a super-group as it’s with Firespawn that we got musicians from storied bands like Dark Funeral, Entombed AD, and Necrophobic just to name a couple and it’s ever since their debut album of “Shadow Realms” four years ago that has become a very coveted bi-yearly treat for me. Yet, while both offerings have been delicious to no end, Firespawn never really hit that sweet spot for me. Couldn’t tell you exactly what I was missing, but whatever it was they found it with “Abominate” as this new offering is their most venomous, potent, and alluring work to date by far!

Other than the constantly stupendous artwork done by the ever-classy Paolo Girardi, Firespawn has long been my go-to band for devastating death metal that’s as heavy as it is devastatingly blasphemous. It’s always been a shining example as one of the standards that I hold the idea of death metal greatness by, and it’s with both of their two full-length albums that Firespawn have laid the foundation with their caustic blend that brings forth overall content that’s far from alien to the genre, but each release always seems to have its own flavor while not wandering too far from Firespawn’s particular brand. With “Abominate” that very same thing has happened on this third effort, but it’s so much more potent as Firespawn not only goes for the throat as they have before but they also maimed without killing to ensure the most visceral and gory set that they’ve delivered to date and it’s simply the most f—king infectious record that I’ve heard in months!

The way I feel about “Abominate” is the same way the album starts out with “The Gallow’s End”: screaming for blood as the soon-to-be dead men in front of us cowers in his final moments that act as the starting point for the blood, guts, and fire that Firespawn spread with masterful craftsmanship in every single track. It’s been with the past two records that Firespawn delivered undeniable quality, but they just didn’t stick more often than not for me. That couldn’t be any further from the case with “Abominate” as this record has a massive set of tracks that are all intoxicating with flawless melodies that don’t compromise the heaviness or destructive nature in the slightest. If anything they improve the unrelenting brutality that Firespawn yet again brings to the table!

It’s from the intro of “The Gallow’s End” that sets the bleak, blood-stained tone for the record to the unholy death march of “Heathen Blood” to the venomous slow burn of “The Hunter” to the calculated massacre of all light that is “Godlessness” that “Abominate” shows off the most engorging darkness that are just only a few of the highlights that are strewn across the most gripping work of Firespawn to date. There is something for everyone on this monumental album of flesh and flame whether you’re new to the name of Firespawn or have been following this presence since the first album like I have. This is a caliber of record that rarely comes along and I refuse to let it go by without heralding its glory to you all in hopes you can join the unholy legions that Firespawn lead with utmost authority that allowed “Abominate” to become the near-masterpiece of death metal that it is.

There are many times in the current climate of metal as a whole that we’ve gotten record from legendary names be they from bands that have existed for decades or have only just recently started making music where the material in question feels underwhelming. That then calls into question how much longer can the band keep going with the quality being a positive? So far, in the case of Firespawn, I couldn’t ask for a career better as they’ve aged exactly like fine wine but in a far shorter time. It could take some bands a few more records to get something like “Abominate” to happen, but yet Firespawn has done it in just five years and it’s everything that I could’ve asked for and so much more. In every f—king way, Firespawn has demolished the competition with “Abominate”, period.

“Abominate” releases on June 7th via Century Media Records! You can pre-order “Abominate” here and listen to the single “The Hunter” via YouTube below.