K.A.S.K. is a Brutal Death Metal/Deathcore act that formed back in 2006 in Krasnystaw. Over the years, the band had suffered through a number of line-up changes, some that almost crippled the band to the point of nonexistence. However, the band did eventually return to recording their first demo release, Cactus Core in 2008. More changes occured in the ranks snd even to the band's sound, which brought in the heavier Brutal Death Metal influence to the music, all leading up to the band going back in the studio to record the Brutal Abstraction EP. The independent recording features six songs and a forty second introduction track, taking up the time span of nearly twenty four minutes of brutalizing Death Metal. But, does K.A.S.K. really stand out in the already overly cluttered Deathcore, even Brutal Death Metal world, or is this an EP that could easily be passed by?
The audio quality to Brutal Abstraction works well for the style, though is not the most impressive when it comes down to the music being played. The audio sounds thick and heavy in a way that listening to it actually makes you feel a bit sluggish, as if pulling a weight with you as you venture through the release. This isn't too bad a concept considering that heavier music the band is playing, meant to be very heavy sounding and brutal. The guitars sound pretty good and have a traditional Brutal Death Metal sound to them, but the bass is not the most impressive on here with the volume. Sadly the guitars can really dwarf that bass throughout the songs, but there are plenty of moments where the bass does shine through, especially during the breakdowns that the band has. The drums sound pretty good with bass kicks that sound loud but don't have that distinct of a click to make them sound unnatural, but the cymbols and snares sound natural as well but not quite as podded up in the mix, which is a good thing in this case. That thick atmosphere does help to make the music interesting, but it doesn't really help the bludgeoning brutality. Really, that's pretty much non-existant. There are times where you'll bang your head, but you won't really get roped in due to the cleaner sound of the guitars, and lack of any distortion or deeper audio to really give the music a crushing sound to compliment the good Death Metal being played. However, the final thing to look at wouold be the vocals, which are not that bad and have more of a dirtier deep guttural sound that becomes clearer due to the cleaner quality, but that doesn't work out for the best as the vocals sound the same with each song and often don't really add any extra flare to the song and end up becoming rather dull after a short while.
All of that becomes quite the let down, especially with how strong the EP starts out. "Awake from Unconsciousness (Intro)" sets up an eerie atmosphere to the recording, which winds up being a bit shortlived since it doesn't really build up to the following track, but rather just seems to kind of bleed into it due to some guitar effects ringing out and a split second poddin up in volume of some cymbol crashes. "Empty Thoughts" kicks in and the start is catchy and will have your head banging to it's more intimidating start. The build up being produced to this song leaves the listener anticipating a sudden burst of brutality and energy, which never really seems to kick in, but does retain that rather heavy start and picks up a bit in speed, unleashing a mixture of brutal music and authoritive attitude. The breakdown that eventually hits doesn't really feel transitioned into that well and greatly slows the pace of the song down, though it does still retain that heavier vibe that started the song out, feeling rich and full when the vocals kick in, and when the guitars put a little extra kick to it. Sadly, this is one of the very few tracks that will really give you any urge to mosh or just punch the closest living thing. This is definitely not the fault of the band, as the song is actually great and shows plenty of promise of being intense from start to finish, but the quality of the audio just cannot capture the aggression that the band brings with them on this effort.
After that, the EP basically drops into a series of slower paced tracks that just become boring due to the aforementioned audio quality. The following track "Salvation's Spinning in the Grave" is another song that is hurt horribly by the cleaner sound and peek-a-boo bass. The music itself doesn't really feel like song would be all that intense, but with the right heavier audio quality, it would have been a catchy track. There are times where the song does pick up that you will find yourself bobbing your head along involuntarily, but that's about all you'll want to do. The title track, "Brutal Abstraction", seems to be hit the hardest by this. The song lasts a solid six minutes, and much like "Salvation's Spinning in the Grave", the song varies between slower material and random bursts of energy that kind of fill the song up and give it a little extra heaviness to get your head moving. The track really has the potential to stand out and be a purely brutalizing assault despite it's mid-tempo pace, and even the breakdown has a good deal of promise of taking enough from the Brutal Death Metal concept to really try to crush your spirits, but again it just feels to sterile to make that sort of impact, and that's a huge let down when it comes to this release.
Brutal Abstraction does wind up ending on a bit of a high note. "The Rest is Silence... (Outro)", which really isn't an outro since there's one track left and, yes, is track six on the EP's artwork as well so it's not a placement error on the disc itself, uses the clean quality well. It's another instrumental similar to "Awake from Unconsciousness (Intro)", but has more of a melancholic, almost liquid feel to it that closes with birds chirping. This really would have made a suitable closing to the EP, but for some reason the song "Falsephobia" is placed after it instead. This track ends up having a much heavier feel to it despite the cleaner quality, and that's more because of the frantic pace of the song and the richer guitar chords despite the bass still being buried in the mix at times. This track will make you wonder if maybe the lack of heavy material is the band's fault, but the mid-tempo tracks would be able to have the kind of more brutal sense this track has considering it greatly deal with faster chords, and everything else feels the exact same way. It's mostly a variation of passages that bring the bass to the forefront to make an impact, and other bridges that focus solely on the guitars. Either way, the track is a little heavier then "Empty Thoughts", and with that is a much more enjoyable experience.
Outside the questionable placement of the outro track, K.A.S.K. show some promise with this EP. "Salvation's Spinning in the Grave" and "Slave's Anathomy" do show more traditional Deathcore characteristics that leave them to not be that enjoyable, and the audio quality being too sterile doesn't help either, and in the end hurts the title track as well. Of all the songs, only two really grab the listener and have a stronger, heavier, more brutal sounding edge to them, and it really sounds good. "Falsephobia" ends up being the most important track on here, and while it's not quite enough to make you want to start a mosh, you can't really put the track down for any reason either. All in all, this is an EP that could have been much better, but still shows what you can expect from K.A.S.K. on their future releases. Hopefully the songs will have more brutality to them then these few do.
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