KingBanana.net

I Am Abomination
• Jaw Dropper

So i am trying to workout more and more every day. I go for night walks in my unsafe neighborhood for the slight chance of getting in a tussle with thugs to burn some calories. I tend to the gym a couple a times a week and draw attention to myself as i scream trying to lift well over 150 pounds at a time. And i try to park my car as far away as seemingly possible in the parking lot from whatever business i plan to patronize. During all of these Fits of rage and “Working out” i have my trusty MP3 player in my hand loaded to the brim with technical metal along the lines of Protest The Hero, Between The Buried and Me, and A Hero A Fake…Well I Am Abomination’s Jaw Dropper as quickly bypassed all of those bands as most played during intense calorie burning exercises.

Michigan’s right now is kind of like long island in 02 and new jersey in 04, the place is just birthing great band after great band, meanwhile covering damn near every musical genre as they fight inches at a time to put their names on the map, and at the lead of all of this, I Am Abomination seems to have the best chance of getting themselves and their brother bands on regular rotation of label signings.

Onto the music itself. Guitarist Nick Sampson must have grown up with a copy of Crossroads on VHS and watched the part with Steve Vai (Who played all of the guitar parts in this movie and also the role of the devils personal Guitarsmith) playing Fifth Caprice by Niccolo Paganini cause this kid can mother fucking shred the shit out of a guitar, the dude pulls off arpeggios like they are nothing, The kid could easily slip into the ranks of Between The Buried And Me and show them a thing or two about speed metal. And the best part is that he doesn’t overpower or overshadow the rest of the band. If i was Zach Phelps (on rhythm guitar) or Brandon Good (on bass) i would be afraid to try to keep up with him but All of the strings flow together so easily that you spend a good amount of time wondering if the wool is not being pulled over your eyes and you are in fact listening to an album made by robots that would require the likes of Dragonforce level studio musicians to pull of live. The Drums are just as competent as any other aspect of the album and have that great metal groove thats not too mathy too dance to yet still has enough fills and meat to listen to without drowning out in cymbal splashes and repetitive arrangements.

And then there are the vocals of Phil Druyor who adds a genre bending factor to the group that keeps them fresh and out of the anti mainstream unaccessible cemetery’s that most tech metal bands find themselves six feet underground in. Druyor’s amazingly well controlled range allows him to pull of some harmonies most bands would need an autotuner to even attempt yet alone feel comfortable performing live with, and his stark lyrical images fit both the aggressive nature of the music along with the octaves he soars through giving you a nice escape from realism reminiscent of the same style of Bukowski/Vonnegut  noir and violence flavored storytelling that influenced bands like Senses Fails and Chiodos.

Add the touches of flair that come with the synth programming that lines the songs and gives them that nice  terminator 2 action movie soundtrack feel (as found on track 4 “The Next Great American Tragedy”) and the guitar highlights such as the 80s echoed guitar squeals that would make Eddie Van Halen smile with pride (just check out the intro to track 6 “Music Gone Wild!), and you have yourselves a well rounded catchy technical metal album that will earn this band a hardcore fan base who within a years time will be bragging about how many times they have seen the band live while waiting in the rain outside of the venue 4 hours early in hopes to grab that nice warm spot waiting for them against the barricade at the foot of the stage.

Bottom line is this, I Am Abomination has the raw talent and early head start that most bands would die for and for a first attempt at an album Jaw Dropper lives up to its name, its only downside could be found in the length of the composition. Its been a very short time that its been in my presence and i already feel the pressure of getting in contact with the band and asking them when they plan on writing the follow up building against my spine.