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I personally can't get enough of the great brutal death acts that've been making their mark over in Europe as of late. Hurakan is one such French four-piece slam outfit and they're back at it again with their sophomore full-length album release. The band, having formed just a few short years ago, are already showing their strength, aggression and disgustingly ignorant riffs and slimy gutturals in the form of Abomination of Aurokos, out now.
Abomination of Aurokos is the new album and slam-induced product courtesy of Hurakan. This brutal composition encompasses a total of nine songs that culminate into about 34 minutes of content. Additionally, the album was recently released via Miasma Records and features numerous guest vocal spots from the likes of Alex Paul (Organectomy & Rendered Helpless) to even Rok Ruknip (Within Destruction). The rather comical, almost try-hard-esque album artwork may put some people off at first sight, but there is more than initially meets the eye to admire here, most of which will be discussed further within this review. So read on to find out!
Really, from the first couple tracks alone, I knew what I was getting into. Yet another slammy mess-terpiece with hints of elements from other brutal death acts. The vocals are about as destructively in-your-face as I wanted them to be...and the overall production quality is a bit above the ranks for this type of release. Most of the riffing is chromatic slam riffs of verying tempos; however, Hurakan likes to mix it up every now and then in between by putting in an almost techy vibe or maybe some melodic backdrops for variety's sake. The blasts and lightning pace is still there, and I appreciated it the more the album went on.
Honestly, I'd focus more on the beginning tracks such as 'Deus Ex Atomus', since I felt as though they had the most energy as well as the hardest impression on me. Also, the songs with guest spots such as 'Xenometh' and 'Maelstrom of Dark Matter' are ones that you should surely check out purely for their vocal variety and especially if you're a fan of the featured guest artist or their band(s). Anyway, while it does get a bit repetitive at times, Abomination of Aurokos still manages to mix things up once in a while or throw in a guest spot to get things back on track, so there's still much to admire on here.
The way I feel about this particular album is how I currently view the status quo when it comes to slam: it's gotten pretty eclectic as time went on and it's fanatics like me that enjoy picking apart this music in order to highlight those aforementioned unique qualities. In terms of this record, Hurakan substitute innovation for straight up disgusting guttural vocals, some technical riffs, solos and overall musical ability, blast beats and slams and everything else in between that a modern brutal death fan could ask for. It may not surprise you exactly, but the new album's got enough groove and brutal nuances to keep you attentive for most of its decent running time.
Fave Tracks: 'Deus Ex Atomus', 'Xenometh', 'Maelstrom of Dark Matter'
For Fans Of: Disfigurement of Flesh, Mental Cruelty, Organectomy
**This release is available now here!**
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-Review by: Dave Raffy
Musician, reviewer, fan & promoter
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