Review: Abest ‘Molten Husk’

Hailing from Göttingen, Germany, and forming in late 2011, Abest take great pride in culling together atmospheric post-metal and death metal twinged hardcore to make a nightmare hell scape so dark no light can shine in. Debuting with Asylum in May 2014 and following it up with Bonds Of Euphoria in 2019, the boys have been cutting their teeth for a while. Members include Joscha Bauer on guitar and vocals, Patrick Siegmann on bass and vocals, and Mochammad Rezy Diandra Putra on drums. Molten Husk is their latest foray into the music some use to feed our inner beast.

Angular and unyielding guitars creep deep on album opener Through The Veins. The drums are beaten so aggressively Rezy’s hand must be left a calloused and a sore mess. Vocals are viscerally shrieked avoiding the stereotypical cliché most hardcore and death metal vocalists adhere to, which is to squeal like The Cookie Monster stepping on a Lego. Narrative Subtraction has dirtier guitars and faster drumming adorned with lovely breakdowns. A sound chasm lined with walls of sound makes up the foundation on The Twitched Veil. Things slow down into a doomy groove creating a desolate fortress that’s easy to lose yourself within.

The title track, Molten Husk, continues the same groove until it’s wretched and collapsing into something somehow more sinister. The drumming drags the song forward all while haunting solos appear and fizzle out. A Converge style of metalcore can be felt on Rendition Of Truth. It’s here where I notice the vocalists haven’t let up one little bit. The dueled intensity between Patrick and Joscha never falters. Guitars drift into distortion and are able to knock you down. Possessor starts with a hollow, listless drumming that meanders and, eventually, crashes into a wave of guitars so dense a state of confusion sets in stealing your breath away.

The music sounds and feels almost alive as it seethes and wretches…

Bulging Aversion marks a sudden return to more of a death metal atmosphere. Everything feels more violent than before until guitars bludgeon that somewhat hopeful feeling down into the familiar bleakness we’ve grown accustomed to. Guitars go skittering on Through The Concrete. The music sounds and feels almost alive as it seethes and wretches before moving quickly into the aptly named Into A Mirrored Hall. Here the soundscapes feel so cavernous, and instrumentation so sharp, I find a world completely devoid of any hope and my heart slows until Cognitive Empathy cranks up the intensity bringing my heart back to a normal pace.

Album closer Obliteratio features Abest showing off everything we’ve seen before. They flex their creative muscles making a nice send-off that tops this beast with a bow, ending the journey completely. That is until an ominous radar like noise sends a chill down my spine.

Having an album so precise and short really can be a godsend. I’m excited for future releases and curious to know what ancient German deities these lads are possessed by to be able to display all of this pure and bitter hatred for humanity. Or maybe they just like loud sounds and are all lovely. I dunno. Admittedly I wrote this when I was dealing with some mental turmoil. I’m going to clean and fix dinner while relistening to this and thinking about my life.

Label: Moment Of Collapse Records
Band Links: Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram

Scribed by: Richard Murray