Following almost a year from formation, ABANDONMENT, has just unveiled their debut entitled, Forced To Imminent Desolation, a menagerie of tracks scored to Brutal Death Metal each revolving around the themes of anguish and despair to name a couple.

The LP begins with the track, "Symbolic Defeats," which itself begins with noise and ambiance before halting in completion and allowing the instruments to segue in with immediacy; the song is a brutal progression of violent riffs and vocals that juxtapose one another with grittiness. "Falsehood And Anguish" pairs distraught and disdain with a more focused progression altering between tremolo passages and palm-muted variants; the vocals are unflinching in their delivery, something as a coarse demon. "Fall Of A Martyr" begins near similar to the other tracks but takes a different approach to the verses as its filled with a reaching lead before reverting back to a traditional rhythm for the rest of the song. "A Convulsed Empire" begins much like the leading track starting on noise and ambience before the instruments set in with a raw energy, the distinct atavistic amalgamation of strings and voice is a bit more forward in this track than the others. "Blood Orgy" perhaps has the most discrete nomenclature to it given subject and meaning both by its naming and the brutal instrumentation found trough the track.

The instrumentation is a particularly interesting collection of recorded tracks as it consists of live strings and programmed drums-the pairing of which lands in the uncanny valley found between cerebral and inauthentic, and interesting crevice which brings all the more attention to the brutal elements of the music and its themes. The guitars are brutal, boisterous, and exacting at the best of times and come off as a wash of sound at the worst of times, for the most part there's a happy medium but the extremes do capture the listener's attention. The bass is a marginal force made forward in tandem with the guitars, however on its own it comes off as a bit weak, perhaps just too quiet. The programmed drums are easily discernible and for the most part work with the music, but in some instances just come off as jarring and disproportionate.

Focused To Imminent Desolation is a modern day approach to Brutal Death Metal and for the most part accomplishes its goal, however the whole of the soundscape just feels unbalanced and rushed-not that the genre is known for its picturesque fidelity but the manner in which the instruments move in and out of overlapping and bleeding into becoming a wash of sound is noticeable from the first song forward. This album is an impressive introduction into the force that is ABANDONMENT and hopefully serves as a large stepping stone for the duo.