Back catalogue: Metal

Review: Formed in 1995, Belgian death metal icons Aborted have become renowned for their dizzying technicality and seamless fusion of the more brutal and melodic aspects of the genre, all the while harbouring a major predilection towards grindcore. Signing to highly revered metal label Nuclear Blast for their 12th full-length Vault Of Horrors, the project takes an old school approach to lyrical inspiration with each of the cuts based off of specific, classic horror films, from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre ('Death Cult') to Halloween ('The Shape of Hate') to Hellraiser ('Hellbound') to later morbid entries such as The Mist ('Malevolent Haze'). That's before even mentioning the ludicrous array of guest vocal features across the album, appearing more like a hip-hop record at first glance with practically every track offering room to the likes of Alex Erian (Despised Icon), Matt McGachy (Cryptopsy), and Jason Evans (Ingested) to name but a small handful.