Abnormality – “Contaminating the Hive Mind”
A few weeks ago TNB took in an awesome metal show at the Middle East headlined by the vintage deathcore band, Suffocation. Also in the line up were four great local bands, three of whom have new CD releases just out for 2012. And so, in doing what TNB does best, which is to promote and give visibility to New England’s local music scene, we’ve decided to feature one of those great metal bands here today.
The band we’ve chosen to feature today is called, Abnormality. Abnormality is a 5 piece progressively technical grindcore band hailing from Marlborough, MA. Their members consist of Ben Durgin and Jeremy Henry on guitars, Mallika Sundaramurthy on vocals, Josh Staples on bass and Jay Blaisdell on drums. Their new CD release is called, Contaminating the Hive Mind, and contains eight insanely intense metal masterpieces that will surely challenge your senses and quicken your heart rate.
The first tune on the CD, Monarch Omega, is fortunately also featured in Abnormality’s official music video. So click the link below and sit back as Abnormality invades your living room. Pay attention, there’ll be a quiz later.
Cool stuff, huh. OK here’s the quiz. Question 1) Is the band playing inside or outside? and Question 2) How does lead singer Mallika manage to manifest such a heinous death growl? Well, question 1 is easy if you go back and watch the first few seconds of the video, but question 2 beats the hell out of me. I have no idea how such an attractive young lady like Mallika creates that beastly onerous growl. But I guess some things are probably best left as a mystery.
The 4th tune on the CD, Taste of Despair features some cool dissonant guitar licks and nice death vocalizations. And, as with all Abnormality’s tunes, Jay on drums is a very busy fellow. I worry that spontaneous combustion may be an impending possibility. Check it out below.
[audio:https://www.thrashnbang.com/wp-content/music/04 – Taste of Despair.mp3|titles=Taste of Despair]The 5th tune called, Schismatic, is my favorite track and has an uncharacteristic gentle melodic start with acoustic guitars. However, that soon ends as sheer brutality enters stage left. An awesome tune, it makes me wish I had long hair to head swirl.
[audio:https://www.thrashnbang.com/wp-content/music/05 – Schismatic.mp3|titles=Schismatic]The last tune on the CD is the title track called, Contaminating the Hive Mind. One might say its a little bit country and a little bit rock ‘n roll. But then again that some one might be on crack. Certainly a bit more progressive than the other tunes, its like a fast and furious hay ride through the inner synapses of your brain, leaving exploded neurons in the wake. Warning!, excessive head bopping is imminent.
[audio:https://www.thrashnbang.com/wp-content/music/08 – Contaminating the Hive Mind.mp3|titles=Contaminating the Hive Mind]I must say, Abnormality loves to play fast and furious, which is just the way I like it.
In closing, I hope I’ve managed to whet your appetites and you’ll check out Abnormality for yourself. Their new CD, Contaminating the Hive Mind is available for download from Bandcamp. Make sure you check it out and also look for Abnormality live ’cause they really rock the fuck out of it.
(Andy Bang)
