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Featured, Music Premieres

FULL ALBUM STREAM: ABYSMAL DAWN, LEVELING THE PLANE OF EXISTENCE

Tuesday, January 25th, 2011 at 1:00pm by

Abysmal Dawn

We’re not entirely sure what the precise definition of impaling aardvark babies is — or that there even is a concrete definition, as is the case with the infamous Taco Riff and the soon-to-be infamous Elephants Marching riff — but we’re 100% certain that Abysmal Dawn are masters of it. Their new album Leveling the Plane of Existence, out February 1st on Relapse, is the latest example of their dense and expansive brand of crushing modern death metal. It most certainly crushes aardvark babies in the most brutal of fashions with giant-sized DM riffs, scorching solos, intricate drumming and searing vocals, with a sense of technicality that serves the greater good rather than being all “hey, look at me!” If you listen closely you might even decipher a few elephants marching riffs here… the sound of elephants stomping all over aardvark babies, perhaps.

Quite simply, this is modern death metal at its absolute best. Stream the entirety of Leveling the Plane of Existence below and pre-order it before it comes out on February 1st. Tell us what you think in the comments.

[this streaming promotion has now ended]

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  • GoingDeaf?

    The next Metalsucks t-shirt needs to have an impaled aardvark baby on it.

    • http://fullmetalattorney.blogspot.com/ Full Metal Attorney

      1

    • Pickles the Drummer Doodly Doo Ding Dong Doodly Doodly Doo

      I fully support this and would provide funds to Metalsucks if needed.

  • http://fantasyh.wordpress.com fantasyh

    Amazing. I am definitely amused

  • that guy

    im liking this

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/William-Lindsay/567063759 William Lindsay

    Just listened to it all the way through. I love it. I will own it very soon.

  • grossj

    bree bree

  • Trollkien

    Loved their last album. While this was not as bursting at the seams with winners, it was still totally worth pre-ordering.

  • cyrollan

    This band just gets better with every release. I want that artwork tattooed on me back.

  • Steve O

    I’d struggle to call this modern death, that’s more the realm of stuff like Father Befouled or Bastard Priest, but Abysmal Dawn are pretty OK regardless. Not good or bad, just kind of in the middle.

    Either way, I doubt this is going to be particularly good (so far it sounds… exactly like all their other stuff).

    • cryptosis77

      Wow, what’s wrong with your ears dude, to me this sounds way, way better than their old stuff. I thought this album was fantastic.

  • D

    “In Service of Time” is still the best song on the album

    • Old Man Doom

      +1 best song of 2011 so far for DM in my opinion

      • Vinsanity

        oh man yes. good call there, i almost made my judgment without hearing that. ill def be getting this, and look forward to the flawless tour theyll be on with kataklysm

  • Justin

    this stuff is fucking great stuff. I fucking love it.

  • Timothy

    Uhhh, no.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Tom-Saunders/660453371 Tom Saunders

    Gonna have to wait til the end of February to get this probably, but it’s fucking brilliant.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Paul-Dykema/72200690 Paul Dykema

    I’m glad they ditched the vocal reverb that almost ruined Programed to Consume, which was awesome besides that.

    Oh and ‘In Service to Time’ is very much an elephants marching riff.

    Also, Pär Olofsson’s artwork is killer!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kyle-Wentworth/100000803656915 Kyle Wentworth

    I gave it a quick listen, its not bad but Im not sure im buying it yet.

  • The Hanging Brain

    ‘In Service of Time’ is a motherfucker!

  • MooseMan

    Aardvaark Obilteration OST.

    Nothing insanely original here…but is ANYTHING? Including me saying there’s nothing original here, then following it up by asking if anything is…and it could go on & on from there…but then that wouldn’t be very original, now would it?

    Either way, they keep it brute. I like the mixing of the drums, and there are some good ol’ fashioned punishing riffs.

    Definitely worth buying…so I’ll take the time and energy to torrent it.

  • Alex_P

    Not particularly interesting, I’ll admit. Sounds sort of like Immolation, but with weaker atmosphere. I’ll take the new Ulcerate instead.

  • Arda

    For those who say nothing new or interesting, you’re making a big mistake. Listen to the tracks a couple of times and you’ll get the feeling. It’s Abysmal Dawn. It’s the way they used to be and they are. You won’t expect any “death metal band” bring something very original on the table nowadays. With 1 or 2 exceptions in thousands. I strictly highlight those words “Death Metal band”. Since not mentioning some like Neosis who are experimental – industrial or Sylosis who are a mixture of melodic death and meetalcore.

    If we’re to talk about true death metal, Abysmal Dawn is one of those bands out there who do their job with at least fulfilling minimum expectations from a modern sounding death metal band.

    I also listen to Necrophagist, Spawn of Possession, Origin, Arsis and all other bands but someway I find Abysmal Dawn’s sound appealing. And not to mention the distance they’ve come so far considering that this is their 3rd release.

    Besides In Service of Time, give a chance especially to “Perpetual Dormancy”, “My Own Savior”, “Rapture Renowned”. Those are 3-4 quality songs that are even worth enough to have this album.

    \m/

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Maclyn-Bean/1078331801 Maclyn Bean

      meetalcore

      • Arda

        sorry for the typo… .)

  • http://youtube.com/yamiryan4509 Ryan Strain

    The vocals sound amateurish and kind of ruin the music for me. Just my humble opinion though

  • KickMyJunk

    I gave it a listen – not bad, not bad at all.

  • Lucifersmile

    It’s kinda boring and in no way brutal.

  • Lucifersmile

    Vocals ruin it for me. Bit too mediocore.

  • MooseMan

    I agree – vocals sound too “new school” death-core…not nearly brutal enough.

    Music is generic, but well executed. The vocals just aren’t up to snuff. I hate what is now known as ‘bree’ or pig squeal. Just too soulless and weak.

    I feel like a good conversation to have on this site would be ’10 most brutal DM vocalists of all time.’ Sadly, this dude would not be one of them…

    • tc7005

      I’m not against an occasional breeeeeeeee pig squeal. However, I’m 5 songs in and haven’t heard a single bree pig squeal yet.

      This vocalist sounds a little more like the Akerfeld vocals in Bloodbath/Opeth to me. It’s not that far off. Overall, seems like a pretty solid death metal album.

      As others have said, it’s good, but not great. Nothing radically different or revolutionary.

      • MooseMan

        I’m not talking Job For a Cowboy ‘bree’ but if you listen to the end of almost every word, especially the ones that end in vowels, he does the back of the throat, hollow, resonation chamber sound to acheive a much deeper tone than he is actually able to attain using just his vocal cords. It’s the same principal as pig squeals, but instead of doing it for entire words, he just does it at the end of most words or when saying certain vowels. Not TERRIBLE, like most of the death-core vocals, but just a little bit weak IMO. The rest of his vocal style is good, I just hate that hollow resonation that he uses to fill space that he couldn’t fill with normal death growls. I will admit, the more I listen to the album, the more it grows on me – but the weakness of SOME parts of the vocals are still detracting from the music for me. Anyway, not bad, not great, probably wont buy it, but I’ll listen to it on here until they stop streaming it.

      • MooseMan

        I should’ve said “old” Job For a Cowboy bree vocals :-)

  • Arda

    Unfortunately(!),

    This dude (known as Charles Elliot) has a really good range of vocals. And he executes it wisely for the most parts. For example Necrophagist (Muhammed) was criticized by many for doing a linear vocal style. But this guy really seems to upgrade his vocal tech. Can use low range mid range and different styles here and there…

    In this record it goes more towards an Opeth-like vocal style which i find charming. They’re deeper…

    The other thing is I don’t think they simply try to be brutal. If that was the matter then they wouldn’t record songs in a more melodic fashion.

    I sometimes don’t get how people compare which to what. or the way they listen to the music.

    I can only say one negative thing about this record especially about vocals, is that they sound too dry for me contrasting to “Programmed to Consume” vocals. Other than this, everything seems fine and working well in a harmony. That’s why I find their sound on this record very “tight”.

  • FTW

    have you ever listened to a band and have just closed your eyes and got goose bumps. Just happed for me awesome as shit

  • FongChung

    I neeeever got into this band for the life of me.