Kev Rowland The Belgian death metal act are back with their twelfth album, and they have taken a somewhat unusual approach to this one in that singer Sven de Caluwé, who has been at the helm since the band’s formation in 1995, has brought in some mates to perform with him on each track so we get brutal duets with the likes of Alex Erian (Despised Icon) to Johnny Ciardullo (Carcosa/ Angelmaker), Ben Duerr (Shadow Of Intent), Francesco Paoli (Fleshgod Apocalypse) and others. Ken Bedene (drums), Ian Jekelis (guitars), Daniel Máni Konráðsson (guitars), and Stefano Franceschini (bass) have combined with Sven to create an album which is brutal in its style, intensity and delivery and then added to this with the addition of the singers.

It is a very clean sounding album, and in some way I think this would have been improved by some muddiness as in many ways there is too much separation and it comes across as quite clinical in places as opposed to a group of guys creating a maelstrom of blood and carnage in the studio. If there had been more of a focus on feel and less on getting it sounding quite so perfect, then the end result would have been more natural and less contrived. Blastbeats, grindcore influences and hardcore vocals among the death growls make this an interesting release which fans of the genre will enjoy even if it is not quite essential.

UMUR "Vault of Horrors" is the twelfth full-length studio album by Belgian death metal act Aborted. The album was released through Nuclear Blast in March 2024. It´s the successor to "Maniacult" from September 2021. The two full-length studio albums are bridged by the non-album single "Infinite Terror" from October 2022.

Stylistically the core sound of the material on "Vault of Horrors" is no surprise if you´re familiar with the previous technically well played and brutal death metal releases from Aborted, but when that is said it´s still a slightly different sounding release, because Aborted have invited various guests to perform vocals on each track on the album along with lead vocalist Sven de Caluwé. So some of the these tracks almost work like extreme metal duets. Alex Erian from Despised Icon for example lends his aggressive hardcore snarling/screaming to "Death Cult", which along with de Caluwé´s brutal growling and aggressive snarling makes for a nicely varied vocal part of the song.

When the novelty of the tracks featuring different guest vocalists is over, "Vault of Horrors" however pretty much turns out to be Aborted by the numbers. Sharp and brutal riffs and rhythms, blistering lead guitar work, and variation between fast-paced blasting and mid-paced heavy grooves. It´s all clean, a bit sterile, and if you enjoy this type of massive professional sounding production, a very well sounding album. It´s become a bit predictable what Aborted releases these days (guest vocalists or not), and a bit more grit, sleaze, and organic playing and production values, would be a welcome change on the next release. Still a 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.