Abbinormal Italia's Gore Talent Review
Abbinormal
Italia’s Gore Talent
Ad Noctem Records
2025
Milan, Italy’s Abbinormal clearly have their tongues firmly in their cheeks (their moniker as the first bit of evidence) and their third album Italia’s Gore Talent, which is obviously a humorous spin on the “Got Talent” reality show that now airs worldwide, and several countries have their own version of it. You would be hard-pressed to find such a scathing, anti-commercial band of brutality merchants anywhere on any of these shows though, and that suits me just fine. I'm sure the band in question doesn't hate the idea either. Well, with that, let's dissect this latest slab of extremity, shall we?
For some historical background, Abbinormal were formed in 1996. Then, they parted ways only to resurface in 2017. Perhaps somewhat ironically, they then unleashed their debut album 1996 the same year. Grind Hotel followed in 2023, and now we have the latest in our hands. Thirteen songs of blended (described by their press release) “grindcore, death, and thrash metal with a provocative and chaotic edge.” The description is pretty dead-on, and it's an intense, yet surprisingly catchy and dare I say, fun listen. The lyrical content seems to focus on (as the band puts it) “a grotesque and ferocious critique of the spectacle of violence and social distress.” Perhaps those lyrics, which are part critique, catharsis, and expounding on the ever-present social decay of the modern world, don't exactly evoke “fun” per se, but somehow Abbinormal manage to craft songs about such heavy topics and make them enjoyable. They may read very dark and bleak, but I think their overall vibe is party angrily while the world burns. I dig that.
The album was recorded, produced, and mixed at Toxic Basement Studios. It's a modern production, but the lethal speed and intensity of the arrangements sound organic across the board, and no instruments or vocals are left wondering where their place in the mix is. If I had to describe Abbinormal’s sonics, I would say throw in some grindcore with a smattering of late 80’s Germanic thrash and mid-90’s death metal with plenty of twists and turns (clean vocals here and there, keyboards, melancholic clean guitar sections) and you have them down in a nutshell. They effortlessly meld these different genres, but grindcore and death metal are the main inspirations here. There's no better case for this than lead-off track “Inverted Karma.” The song begins straight away with choked cymbal hits, guitar chugs, and acerbic vocals, then they blast-beat us to death with tremolo-picked riffs and dissonance and choral chants and an outstanding double-bass-riddled midsection, and back to making minced meat out of us within less than two and a half minutes.
“Boomer” stands out with its thrashy 4/4 midsection and near jazz-like guitar fills in the verse sections. “The Invisible Overpopulation” begins with near-symphonic black metal tendencies complete with inverted chord voicings and melancholic piano before grinding us into dust. “Hippopotamus” is next and it thrashes, it death chugs, and has enough gas to say what it needs to say in two minutes and 21 seconds. Seriously, the slow-churning pissed-off breakdown at the end is worth the price of admission alone. This is definitely my favorite track. The vocals of Eric are pretty standard death growls, but as I mentioned earlier on, he does diversify and bring out some mid-range high screams as well as the odd clean singing, a tactic he employs with great success on “God Save the Dirt.”
The biggest takeaway I have from Italia’s Gore Talent is that the songs are short, there is no filler, and they all aim to hit hard and hit fast. Grab this and experience it for yourself, because Abbinormal are seemingly creating some of the best death/grind anywhere, much less outside U.S. soil. Here's strongly hoping for album #4. Lethal chaos from start to finish, this one. Nice work, gentlemen…
RIYL: Blood Duster, Lock-Up, Cartilage, Exhumed, Aborted, Avulsed
~TB