Hot New Band: Abhorrent Decimation

Extreme music has infiltrated mainstream metal.

Vicious riffing, harsh vocals and vein-popping aggression are now integral to huge swathes of heavy music’s portfolio, which means death metal bands such as London’s Abhorrent Decimation stand a decent chance of escaping the underground. It helps that new album Miasmic Mutation is a subtly accessible dose of brutality that oozes crossover potential.

“Seeing it take form was incredible,” says frontman Ashley Scott. “The direction had gone a lot darker than I was expecting, which I was delighted about. We’ve created something special and I still beam with the joy of that.”

Coming off the back of debut EP Infected Celestial Utopia in 2013, and triumphant performances at Bloodstock and elsewhere, Miasmic Mutation channels the infernal travelogues of Dante’s epic poem The Divine Comedy to create a poignant dissection of Ashley’s innermost thoughts.

“The starting block for the record’s concept was to create three passages, akin to The Divine Comedy, except I would choose life, death and the afterlife,” he states. “I was adamant we’d have nine songs, so I’d have three songs per passage to explore the stories I wanted to tell. Only a few of the lyrics are total fantasy. Most of them are literal and metaphorical reflections on situations I was experiencing or had experienced around the time of writing, adapted to fit the concept of a personal journey… The ultimate journey.”

All that remains now is for Abhorrent Decimation to hit the road. “I can’t wait to tour the nuts off it,” enthuses Ashley.

*Miasmic Mutation* is available now via iTunes, Spotify and Bandcamp

Dom Lawson began his inauspicious career as a music journalist in 1999. He wrote for Kerrang! for seven years, before moving to Metal Hammer and Prog Magazine in 2007. His primary interests are heavy metal, progressive rock, coffee, snooker and despair. He is politically homeless and has an excellent beard.