Abdicate, Relinquish the Throne

Hailing from New York, Abdicate erupt onto the death metal scene with their Sevared Records debut, Relinquish the Throne. Mixing early era Suffocation with a heavy, caustic dose of grind, these guys let fly with eight songs in just over 18 minutes time. In that short span, you’re going to have your ass handed to you on a steaming, gore encrusted platter.

Keeping in the slower paced range, Abdicate’s primary means of rending limb from torso are massively thick and bludgeoning riffs. The rhythm section must hate their fans because they do everything in their power to pulverize bone and tenderize the connective tissues in your neck. The vocals, as one might expect, are deep and guttural, yet aren’t completely unintelligible.

Forged in Ruin
A bit of chaotic noise gets us underway before thick riffs and premeditated drumming build to a bone crushing, monolithic pace. The vocals are slowly delivered as well and fit the overall violent sound well. This one is all chugging riffs and barabaric rhythms — I love it. The song ends in a fury of blasts and driving guitars.

Expell the Zealot
“Expell the Zealot” starts off with heavy, yet plodding riffs and calculated drums as the guttural vocals make their appearance. There is some layering of backing growls as well that give the track some much needed depth. The pace explodes just before the one minute mark with maniacal drumming and nasty riffs. There’s some hellish breakdown like riffs to end out the track.

Argument of Kings
This 35 second track is chaotic, destructive and rabid. Indecipherable, layered vocals combine with guitar squeals and blasting drums to create an aggressive fervor.

The Consequence
“The Consequence” starts off with some evil riffs and a huge scream before settling into a demonic groove. I’m digging the layered growls and screams on this one especially as the pace picks up a bit. The groove on this one is catchy as hell too. There’s a great slow down prior to 1:30 that slowly builds back up with evil riffs to a more aggressive level of activity.

Conflicting Nomadicy
This next song wastes no time getting down to business. Pummeling drums and thick riffs accompany the guttural vocals right from the opening as Abdicate burrow through your gut with merciless ferocity. This one is pretty straightforward, like a cinder block to the temple.

Cleansing the Soul
This one is another nasty affair. There’s much more variety in the drums this time around, ranging from methodical bludgeoning to spastic blasts. The guitars do their best to keep up (throwing in nicely timed squeals here and there), but the drums are definitely the highlight on this one.

Onset Impurity
After the furious start to “Onset Impurity,” Abdicate settle into a bludgeoning groove of grinding death metal with shredding riffs and animalistic drums. I love the guitars at 1:18 — they’re great touch and add a nice foreboding feel to the song.

Relinquish the Throne
Evil riffs and thundering drums open up the final track on the album. The guttural delivery has gotten even deeper and more vehement while a higher end scream backs it up nicely. This one has a single purpose in mind — finish off what’s left of your husk of a body after the first seven songs have ended their blunt force attack.

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If I had a single, glaring complaint regarding this album it would be that it’s too damned short. I want more, dammit! There’s room for more back breaking rhythm blasts, more gurgles and more tendon ripping riffs. I recommend playing this one as loud as you can stand, possibly until your eardrums have ruptured.

Favorite Tracks:
All of them

Additional Notes:
N/A