UMUR "Global Flatline" is the 7th full-length studio album by Belgian death metal act Aborted. The album was released through Century Media Records in January 2012. It´s the successor to "Strychnine.213" from 2008. Four years between albums is a bit unusual for Aborted, who are usually a very busy band. Both when it comes to releasing new material but also when it comes to touring. The four years between albums have not been spend doing nothing though. First off everyone in the lineup except lead vocalist/band founder Sven de Caluwé have been replaced. So this is an almost completely new lineup compared to the lineup who recorded "Strychnine.213 (2008)". Aborted also released the "Coronary Reconstruction" EP in 2010, so there´s also been one release to bridge the gap between "Strychnine.213 (2008)" and "Global Flatline".

Stylistically there are very few surprises if you´re familiar with the last couple of preceding releases by Aborted. It´s relatively brutal and technically well played death metal, featuring good rhythmic variation, some nicely played melodic guitar solos), and aggressive higher pitched snarling vocals complimented by deep growling ones. The band are very well playing, the songwriting professional and relatively catchy, and the sound production is powerful, clear sounding, and detailed. The lyrical subjects are as usual gore/horror themed, which song titles like "Fecal Forgery", "Our Father, Who Art of Feces", and "Vermicular, Obscene, Obese" are a testament to.

The material on the 13 track, 43:40 is relatively memorable, but it´s not instantly catchy, and in the case of most tracks, they require several spins before settling. Some of them feel a bit like filler material too, but there are standout tracks on the album like "Of Scabs and Boils" and "Expurgation Euphori". The former featuring a hardcore punk influenced rhythm (reminding me of early Carcass), and the latter being a more atmospheric slow paced track. Upon conclusion "Global Flatline" is another quality death metal release by Aborted, but it doesn´t stand out much in their discography. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

Time Signature Our father, who art of metal...

Genre: death metal

The Belgian death metaller strike back with another barrage of death-grind that breaks all speed limits.

We are, of course, dealing with brutal death metal with lots of blasbeats and grinding passages and varying levels of technicality - and this should not be understood as if the musical quality is unstable (no, the Aborted-guys are highly professional and talented musicians). A reflection of this is their ability to use of both advanced technical features and more primitive death metal elements.

The main focus is on speed and brutality, which naturally leads to a lot of blastbeats - perhaps almost too many; but we must remember that blastbeats also belong to genre, so I suppose there is not reason to complain. To be sure, the album is not just a load of blasting grind-songs from beginning to end: there are plenty of heavy sections and lots of midtempo passages and also numerous solid and tasty riffs. And the changes from blastbeats to groovy breakdowns to doom-laden heavy beats to old school death metal primitive riffs and so on work incredibly well.

There are also some pockets of melody that pop up in the amidts all the brutality, which generates a nice dynamic. Specifically the guitar solos are quite melodic and also quite technically advanced, and, if you are a fan of guitar solos, you should find the album very enjoyable to listen to (provided that you are also a fan of extreme metal, of course).

Fans of brutal death metal, death-grind and perhaps grindcore - I reckon - should find this album appealing.