GENITAL GRINDER. With a name like that you won't be surprised when you hit play. These guys were spawned in 1990 under the name of MASS SLAUGHTER in Mantova, Italy. After over 25 years in the business, these guys are certainly not newbies to the scene by any means. Describing themselves as "Extreme Brutal Gore Grinding Death Metal" they are certainly honest with their brutal sound. The opening track on this album "Arise" certainly wastes no time in assaulting you with raw, bestial carnage. With some fast tremolo picking from the guitar and drums which are faster than the speed of light, there's certainly a lot going on; and that's before the vocals have even come in! When the vocals arrive, it's pure chaos. If you are brave enough to attempt headbanging to this, I salute you.

Three songs later we have the track "Undead" . It is now extremely evident that there is no slowing down or softening of tone with these guys. The song starts off with a slower-than-normal beat, almost leading us into a false sense of security. This lasts all of a few seconds before we're back to the chaotic norm. The guitar work in this song is amazing; I have some serious musician envy going on.

Now for the obligatory "song to listen out for"; "Call of the Scarab" is, in my opinion, the best song of the album. It's much more melodic than their other tracks and they seem to push the boat out and stray away from the confines of their genre. There are also some Old School Death Metal elements hidden away beneath the dark, heavy exterior. It's one of the shortest tracks of the album, but that doesn't take away from its grandeur. There is some impressive fiddly-diddly guitar work along with an overall memorable tune and beat.

While "Abduction" does have its strong points, nothing really stands out and engulfs me about this album. The majority of the songs sound the same. They have the same song structure, the same tempo, the same core features. So much so that it sounds like an hour of the same song. While this isn't necessarily a bad thing, they do what they do well, but it fails to click with me. As I said before, they describe themselves as" Extreme Brutal Gore Grinding Death Metal", but to me they sound like any other Brutal Death metal band; aiming for shock value and hitting their mark. This album, as a whole, is not abysmal, but is certainly forgettable.

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