Abusiveness - Bramy Nawii

ABUSIVENESS - Bramy Nawii (ARACHNOPHOBIA - CD 2014)

It’s been a long and huge expectation for the new Abusiveness full length album – after their best work so far, which was “Trioditis”, it quickly passed seven years already! But in the meantime the band delivered a couple of split materials and a 7”EP, so it was not a wasted time… Anyway, being a fan of this Polish band I really wanted to hear new full album, not just some appetizers. And finally it arrived! “Bramy Nawii” came with the logo of Arachnophobia, which was a good news for me, since this small label have done brilliant work for their previous releases (which all were killer… great run so far!). And shortly after the release date I already had CD in my hands and it literally has been the most listened album of the past month. Did you expect anything else, really?

And so, “Bramy Nawii” resounds in my chamber of annihilation hehehe! And I am very pleased! I can sincerely say that this is yet another truly great album from this Polish band. They never really disappointed me, and with “Trioditis” Abusiveness reached the peak of the greatness. And I am not quite sure whether this new album is better or not when compared to its predecessor; maybe it’s just equally good, but it is only a objective feeling, which may change every time I listen to both albums. Both have something exceptional to offer. Both are strong and unique… so, let’s just call it even!

In many ways “Bramy Nawii” is a natural continuation of “Trioditis”, the style of Abusiveness is so characteristic that you can recognize the band right away, but obviously the new album is not a copy of the previous materials. The band incorporates some new patterns here and there, but generally the album walks the good, well known path. Sometimes “Bramy Nawii” brings some surprising and weird resemblances; for example every time I listen to “Prawia” I have a feeling like it reminds me Anaal Nathrakh! Yes, I know it is very odd and that these two bands may not have so much in common. But what reminds me Anaal in “Prawia” is that combination of furiously fast, neckbreaking and uncompromising riff I the verse part with catchy chorus sang with clean, epic vocals. Anal Nathrakh have also made quite few similar songs and maybe they offer way more chaotic and extreme style, but it’s just that mixture of two opposite styles within one song what connects both bands. And damn, surely “Prawia” is one of the best tracks here, along with such “W górę chorągwie”, which is just another killer Abusiveness song, so is “Żywe kamienie”, which I just love for its sheer brutality, unstoppable cannonade of fierce riffs, blasting drums and again a combination of harshness with epic, clean sang chorus. Finally there’s “Proces”, which is another killer anthem in my opinion! And speaking of the drums, I am so impressed by Wizun’s work on “Bramy Nawii”. Damn, this man was injured recently in the car crash and so quickly was able to torment us with such perfectly executed, furiously played drumming. Hats off for his performance!

Back to the material on “Bramy Nawii”. I always said that Abusiveness is one of the most characteristic bands here on the Polish black (pagan) metal scene. Ever since the late 90’s, when I got their demo “Dwie twarze mroku” I was impressed by their music, also because it was quite original; they always had specific and unique riffs, with characteristic melodies, and also the vocals were always their great strength and something what distinguish the band from the rest of the scene. And that style was only better and better with every full length album, the production was also improved on each next recording… If you take such “Hybris”, which is also excellent album, but seems to be harsher, more uncompromising (besides, it also has mainly English lyrics, what doesn’t fit to Abusiveness in my opinion) then the evolution is quite obvious and goes in the right way. Sure, the music becomes maybe more melodic sometimes, maybe more epic other time, but still it’s so furious and intense as fuck! “Bramy Nawii” is a fine confirmation for all what I just wrote. Ever since the first riff, first vocal parts I can say that it is Abusiveness, no other band and I am impressed. This is a band with its own style and such song as “Lędziańska krew” is a fine proof for that. It is very classic track for Abusiveness, with these specific melodies and vocals, also with characteristic arrangements. So good. I suppose that “Welesowy cień” is the only song, which I like little bit less here. It is still very good and maybe it even has the strongest heathen feeling from the entire album… but it’s just the song I like least from the whole tracklist.

Anyway, the final result is truly excellent. I sincerely like this album a lot, but its high quality is not a surprise for me. I have most of the previous Abusiveness works in my collection already and all of them are great. “Bramy Nawii” along with “Trioditis” is my definite favourite. It is perfectly executed (oh, those drums, killer vocals, great, intense riffs!), superbly produced – so powerful and energetic, at the same time this album sounds so natural, so organic, not like some of the plastic productions we get nowadays… It is not perfect record, it can always be better, but damn… Abusiveness is as close to perfection as never before. I seriously recommend you it. 

Standout tracks: “Prawia”, “Proces”, “Żywe kamienie”, “W górę chorągwie”

Final rate: 85/100