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Abomination - Enemy Within


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Abomination – Enemy Within

 

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Hi-res cover: front + back

 

Artist: Abomination (Israel)

Title: Enemy Within

Format: CD (jewel case)

Label: Nexus Media (South Africa)

Cat. #: NEXUSCD009

Distribution: Arabesque

Date: May 2006

 

Track listing:

 

01. 07’57” Fallen

02. 06’40” Pass Away (vs. New Dawn Corp.)

03. 07’23” The Hunt

04. 07’07” Mr. Nice

05. 07’09” America’s First

06. 06’24” Enemy

07. 07’04” Protocol

08. 08’15” Glitch

09. 08’16” Devidien (Album Version)

 

.m3u-playlist: http://tinyurl.com/z9emc (all tracks!)

 

Review:

 

Abhorrence…

 

The Abomination duo consists of Saar Davidov & Eyal Gershon from Raanana in Israel. Before this, their debut album, they’ve appeared on lots of compilations on mostly South African labels… I haven’t heard much of their stuff, but this album got some really positive reviews when it was released… Here’s my take on it…

 

Let me take you thru the tracks…

 

#01: Fallen [145 BPM]

The opening track is a real energetic piece of trance ‘n’ roll… After a synth-soaked, atmospheric intro the track is soon absolutely soaked in distorted guitars and rolling basslines… And to be honest, I’ve never really gotten into that… The guitar mayhem reminds me too much of Skazi *shivers*… Next!

 

#02: Pass Away (vs. New Dawn Corp.) [145 BPM]

Luckily the next track is much better… This belter of a track was made in cahoots with Tom Davidov (no idea who he is!?). Again, the mood is darkish and atmospheric – but thankfully it’s bereft of the most obvious guitar pitfalls… This is pure, nocturnal, energetic night trance with a couple of nifty surprises in store… Especially the twisted rhythm section is sweet!

 

#03: The Hunt [145 BPM]

“How far does it go down? All the way to the pyramid! […] How was it done? Thermal equipment of some kind. Like yours? More advanced. Incredibly powerful. I've never seen anything like it. I’m telling you, there’s no team and no machines in the world that can reach this depth. […] There is only one way we’re gonna know for sure. That’s to get down there!” The next track starts with a heavily cut up and filtered voice sample from Alien Vs. Predator and immediately the eerie, otherworldly feel has set the mood… The hunt has begun! Both name- and style wise, this reminds me of older Talamasca – only this time it’s pumped with steroids ensuring an even tighter grip on the listener… Propane-injected, relentless and banging psytrance that asks no questions… Lovely in all its bouncy simplicity!

 

#04: Mr. Nice [145 BPM]

BLAST-OFF! This track doesn’t waste a single nano-second on an intro or something even remotely similar… It’s full power from the start to finish… The race car whooshing sounds are cool as is the rest of this wicked, party-minded tune… Very South African-sounding - this means it’s also very un-Israeli sounding… Sure, it’s melodic but not overly melodic and full-on as one might think… It’s a pretty nice, but the novelty is starting to wear off and I really could have done without the Star Wars samples… But generally this is not a bad track at all…

 

#05: America’s First [146 BPM]

“We all know that Harvard has been honoured to host some of Benjamin Franklin's artefacts, which I personally found. Like this cannon-like article back here. Now later you can take note of the foot-operated carburetor, the reservoir and the top-loading bud bowl. Ladies and gentlemen, Harvard is now the proud owner of America's first... bong!” Another track that starts with a movie sample – this time from How High. The style has changed, and this track has more emphasis on nifty little interweaved melodies that compliment the somewhat hollow bass nicely… The added FX and percussion spicy up the track and give it a strange, yet alluring appeal… And the strangest thing is that I’m usually not a fan of full-on… But this track rocks!

 

#06: Enemy [146 BPM]

“We're in the middle of a war. It's time to pick a side. We are on our side! We have to consider the possibility that we might not make it out of here. But we have to make sure that those serpents don't reach the surface -- because if they do -- everything, everywhere, could die! The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Another AVP sample opens this track which is a little darker and a little more melancholy than the previous one… The style is still Aussie/South African full-on though combined with the twirling melodies from earlier and the whooshing sounds… Combined with a stellar build-up/break part this track stands out from the crowd positively… Very refreshing!

 

#07: Protocol [145 BPM]

“Here is the protocol: Total containment inside the hotel. No one is allowed to leave or communicate with the outside. Health services will establish an adjacent perimeter. LAPD will move in as soon as the area is deemed safe. All right. Have they been given degree of force parameters in case someone tries to leave the hotel? No, that's your call. One person gets out, it could start a ripple effect of disease transmission throughout the city. Orders are shoot to kill anyone who attempts to leave. No exceptions!” Digital drops, spacy ambience and melodic mutterings make out both the intro and the basis of this uplifting yet murky track… The layers are plenty and the melodies cascade all over the place leaving little time to breathe… But hey, that was never the intention in the first place, was it? This is a full-blown party track with Tony Almeida samples from 24 added to increase the cool factor. Sweet!

 

#08: Glitch [145 BPM]

The distinct harpsichord melody used in this track instantly reminds you of The Misted Muppet and the familiar taste continues when the track progresses into an off-key, fragmented piece of psytrance… There’s nothing wrong with the sound – in fact it’s pretty cool, but I can’t help shake the feeling that we’ve heard this kind of trance lifted-straight-from-Infected Mushroom once too many… It gets old real fast I’m afraid…

 

#09: Devidien (Album Version) [146 BPM]

The closing track calls for a little experimentation, but unfortunately also marks the return of the dreaded guitars… And though the guys are doing their best to break out of the norm, the full-on tendencies are more predominant here… There is one notable thing here though – the pump gun ‘reload pump’ used as percussion. Very nice, but it still doesn’t lift the track enough. An average closing track on an above average album.

 

This is a nice album with more than a few great tracks. A couple of the tracks didn’t go down with me as well as I’d hoped for, but as a whole the album is nowhere near the majority of boring, predictable neo full-on albums coming out of Israel nowadays.

 

In fact most of it sounds like the powerful, raging mad psytrance we know from South African labels – with the added full-on spice from that the guys Israeli heritage is bound to leave. So it’s the best of both worlds really. I’m not a fan of modern Israeli full-on, but when it’s packed like this I start to gain interest again. Another thing I noticed was how incredibly well-produced the album is – every single second is crystal clear extremely well thought out… I can even begin to imagine just how much work went into it… Impressive!

 

Fans of South African psytrance with a big splash of Israeli full-on will most definitely dig this – as will fans of energetic, melodic-slash-edgy dancefloor trance… It might not be a masterpiece, but it’s a little gem in its own right. Enjoy!

 

Favourites: 2, 3, 5(!), 6(!), 7(!)

 

DeathPosture

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External links:

Nexus Media: http://www.nexus-media.co.za

Discogs: http://www.discogs.com/release/705843

Saiko Sounds: http://tinyurl.com/fdkah

TranceShop: http://tinyurl.com/myeu8

Beatspace: http://tinyurl.com/omwzb

Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/pokw6

Psyshop: http://tinyurl.com/osf35

3AM: http://tinyurl.com/nadys

Juno: http://tinyurl.com/mlgtj

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That's a very good album from the Abomination duo. The sound is a mix of South Africa Psy with hard non-cheese Israeli Full On. I can only found two problems in here. The first is that most of the tracks are pretty similar to each other (except the most melodic Devidien). The other is that somehow none of the track actually ''explodes'' with extra power or a climax (unlike the South African artists).

But still it's pretty cool album. Fav tracks: 3,4,5,6,9

 

 

 

Do you also find the cover cracy?

600502[/snapback]

The cover sucks although it's been made by a great artist, Machine. Every cover which shows the artists' faces sucks! But why do you make sarcastic comments every time you see a SA label release? I know you don't like their music, but it's not helpful for the review section. Sorry, off topic.

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  • 8 years later...

"Only the chosen ones may enter."

 

The power. The eerie feeling. This is most assuredly a Nexus Media staple if you love that South African sound with a little Israeli cooking. It's full power all the way with similar sounding head pounding tracks. Hard to believe this was made almost a decade ago. Their sophomore album Planet X was also a blistering killer, but their last effort Incognito...let's just say that it didn't measure up.

 

Rumor has it there is a collaboration EP with Rubix Qube in the works, so let's see if they can get things sorted out. But this album is still fantastic.

 

Mdk

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  • 7 years later...

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