FEEDING THE ABSCESS

"Feeding the Abscess" is the third full-length studio album by Canadian, Quebec based technical death metal act Martyr. The album was released through Galy Records in October 2006. It´s the successor to "Warp Zone" from March 2000 although the two full-length studio albums are bridged by the November 2001 "Extracting the Core: Live 2001" live album. There has been one lineup change since the release of "Warp Zone" as guitarist Pier-Luc Lampron has been replaced by Martin Carbonneau. The remaining members from the lineup who recorded "Warp Zone" are brothers Daniel Mongrain (rhythm and lead guitar, clean vocals) and François Mongrain (bass guitar, growling vocals), and drummer Patrice Hamelin.

Stylistically "Feeding the Abscess" is a continuation of the technical and sometimes progressive death metal style of "Warp Zone" but Martyr have taken that sound and have added even more technical playing, more progressive songwriting ideas, and slightly more meaty brutality to the mix. So everything which made "Warp Zone" a great album has been multiplied here and the gloves are generally off in terms of experimentation and sharp technical playing. The vocals are still shouting and aggressive and the listener is led through a lot of twists and turns during the 13 tracks, 48:24 minutes long playing time, making "Feeding the Abscess" an album which keeps the listener on his/hear toes for the duration of the release.

"Feeding the Abscess" features a well defined, powerful, and professional produced sound production, which suits the material perfectly. You can hear every detail here with ease but there is still enough grit and aggression here for "Feeding the Abscess" never to sound too polished and accessible. In other words Martyr have hit the right balance between sophistication and death metal rawness and brutality.

Overall "Feeding the Abscess" is quite the impressive release from Martyr and the six years since the release of "Warp Zone" have obviously been spend on honing both their playing skills and their compositional skills. I am still of the opinion that they could have gotten more out of the latter though. While there are several jaw-dropping moments and some very intriguing songwriting ideas throughout the album, the sum of the parts don´t always add up to a great overall listen. The material lacks memorable hooks and it´s an album which is entertaining while it plays, but soon forgotten when it stops. So the memorability of the material is the weakest link of the chain here but a 3.5 star (70%) rating is still deserved.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives).

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