There were certain things I cannot watch on television while I’m eating because I have a pretty weak stomach when it comes to gross things. Like, I love slasher films, but no way can I enjoy a meal while experiencing one. Forget anything that involves surgery or seeing guts or human waste. Can’t handle it. Never could handle it.

I imagine if the tracks on “Ethereal Emanations from Chthonic Caries,” the new record from grind/death crushers Abraded, instead were presented visually, I would get nauseated quickly. Which is a compliment for this band, and I’m sure they’d take it that way. Carried over from grind legends Hemdale, of which guitarist Patric Pariano was a part, these nine tracks completely disgust and devastate, often sounding like a horror from another world. Rounded out by vocalist Mark Gallon, guitarist Evan Crouse, bassist Brad Moore, and drummer Jon Gonzalez, this record carves to the bone and lets blood pool beneath, leaving the coppery smell burning the inside of your nose.

“Ethereal Emanations” starts clubbing and pulverizing, a complete strangulation of horrors that spills over the entire package. Drums batter as the growls twist flesh, smoking carnage leading to a vicious finish. “Menticide” keeps the assault going, the vocals mangling as animalistic intent rampages, rapid-fire hell served by a machine gun. Heated howls linger as the humidity thickens, the pace coming more unglued as time lapses. “Uroboric Incest” has guitars carving before the pace gets thrashy, splattering as inhuman barks gnaw at your spine. The pace detonates as guttural growls dig for your guts, sickening before disappearing in noxious fumes. “Collectivized Enmeshment” lets guitars smear soot and unhinged growls maul, chugging as the intensity peaks. There is very little room for breathing here as the intensity ramps up dangerously, ending everything with a chokehold. 

“Compensatory Contrarianism” has riffs tingling before the beastliness opens its sinewy jaws, crazed howls making your psychotic state that much worse. Guitars heat and bend as metallic spurts burn, ending in deranged mania. “Theonemesis” brings immediate carnage, wild, malicious wails making matters more volatile, guitars menacing and hacking. Speed clobbers as ugliness leaves spatter on walls no one can hope to clean. “Mass Formation Psychosis” tortures as heated cries dig under nails, drums rampage and destroy, and the guitars lick their chops. I’m still on the drumming here as over the back end it is like a massacre, beating your head into a pulp. “Chthonic Caries” is punchy as growls choke, the tempderature wrecks bodies, and brutal riffs flex decaying muscle. The heat penetrates deeper, turning your organs into cooked meat, crushing unsuspecting souls. Closer “Theodicy” awakens and flattens, the bass coils, and comically crazed screaming makes you feel like you’re losing your mind. Dizzying, maniacal playing jacks up the madness even higher, gross hacking and spitting turning your stomach one final time.

Abraded, for sure, are not for the faint of heart, and “Ethereal Emanations from Chthonic Caries” is bound to make any mental scars only dig deeper. This is gross, furious death and grind meant to ruin your appetite, and it does that over and over again. Don’t say you weren’t warned going in, but if this is your thing, expect to be there a while bathing in stomach acid.

For more on the band, go here: https://abraded-official.bandcamp.com/

To buy the album (U.S.), go here: https://redefiningdarkness.8merch.us/

Or here (Europe): https://redefiningdarkness.8merch.com/

For more on the label, go here: https://www.redefiningdarkness.com/