ABRASIVE are a Brutal Death Metal band from Germany, formed in 1999. "Edge of Darkness" is their sixth album and is released on Rebirth the Metal Productions. You would expect that any band that has been around for over 20 years will have a high-quality production and ABRASIVE don't disappoint. The opening of "Puppet Face" sound like a jet engine taking off before bludgeoning you with pounding drums and pummeling guitars. It's intense, frenetic and chaotic where riffs come and go. It's almost like ABRASIVE shoved a load of riffs into a blender and this was the result. The vocals are the cookie-monster type (and the only cookies I do are the edible type and those really annoying ones on websites) but they are complimented with a few screams from Alex.

Double-kick drums and a slower groove introduces "Reborn" which slows down further before speeding like a rocket with machine-gun riffing and a frenetic faster pace before slowing down again. I even made out the vocals...well one word (reborn) but it's a start. A horror film intro adds a nice dynamic to "Chamber of Secrets" before a thumping riff comes in and then speeds up. "I adore the chamber...the chamber of love...chamber of secrets" screams Alex Well I think that's what he screams though a Brutal Death Metal band even using the word love seems kind of weird...unless it's a twisted kind of S&M love...anyway...

I started to headbang to a pounding riff on "Mass of Human Flesh" which brings a chugging opening riff and some melody to proceedings. "Pull the String" adds a menacing vibe with one of the few lead guitar moments which seems very low in the mix and a very 'thin' sound compared to the beefiness of the rhythm guitar. Maybe that's intentional as the rest of the production is very good. "Uncontrolled" and "Bleed for Us" brings pig-squeals to the vocal arsenal but to be honest it does sound frankly ridiculous but I guess that depends whether you like pig-squeals or not. If you do, best not to tell anyone...shhh. The final instrumental "Emptiness" has a 'Blade Runner-esque atmospheric intro before a heavy melodic riff carries the song to its conclusion.

I haven't heard ABRASIVE's previous albums but according to their Facebook page, Edge of Darkness is their most varied and darkest album. To their credit the musicianship is very good and the production has a lot of punch which I think this style of music needs. There is variety in the vocal department with the cookie-monster, screams and pig-squeals and the album doesn't get boring due to its chaotic and intense nature with riffs changing rapidly throughout the songs. Also the fact that most of the songs are around the 3 minute mark so it's all over in around 30 minutes.

Of course you're not likely to be humming the tunes to these so they're not exactly memorable but if you like this style of music, you may well enjoy the experience.