Aborted is a Belgian brutal death metal band. Characterized by their prominent goregrind influences and the instantly recognizable vocals of mainman Sven de Caluwe, Aborted has worked their way up over the years into becoming one of the biggest names in brutal death metal.
Formed in Beveren, East Flanders in 1995 by Sven de Caluwe (vocals), the band was initially a one-man project that was not intended to be a serious project, but Sven eventually welcomed in Niek Verstraete (guitars), Koen Verstraete (bass), and Steven Logie (drums) in 1997, though Logie left the following year and was replaced by Frank Rosseau; in addition, Christophe Herreman joined in as the second guitarist, creating the The Purity of Perversion lineup. Herreman left in 2000 and was replaced with Thijs de Cloedt the following year. This was the same year that Engineering the Dead hit to widespread acclaim, creating a great deal of interest and setting the stage for Aborted to become the next big thing in death metal. The Verstraete brothers left the following year, however, with Bart Vergaert and Frederic Vanmassenhove replacing them on their respective guitar and bass spots. Rosseau then left not long after as well, with up-and-coming virtuoso drummer Dirk Verbeuren taking his place. This lineup went on to record Goremageddon: The Saw and the Carnage Done, which was instantly hailed as a modern-day classic and firmly catapulted them into the limelight. Verbeuren could not stick around for long due to his myriad other obligations, however, and so Gilles Delecroix was drafted to replace him. The Archaic Abattoir followed in 2005, though the reaction was decidedly more lukewarm due to subtle but noticeable metalcore influences. Cloedt and Vergaert left that same year and were replaced by Stephane Souteyrand and Sebastian Tuvi, though the former left in less than a year and was in turn replaced by Matty Dupont. What followed over the next few albums was an absolutely ludicrous amount of lineup shifts, with many people lasting for less than a year before departing for one reason or another. After the very poor reception that 2008's deathcore-tinged Strychnine.213 received, Caluwe decided that it was time to start everything over with Aborted.
As such, he fired everyone in 2009 and got a completely new lineup in the form of Ken Sorceron, Eran Segal (guitars), and Cole Martinez (bass), along with the return of Verbeuren, though Martinez only stuck around for the recording of the Coronary Reconstruction EP, with JB van der Wal taking over for him. Verbeuren left again in 2010 and was replaced with Ken Bedene, a young student of the drum extraordinaire Mike Heller. Sorceron then left in 2011 and was replaced by Mike Wilson, one of his Abigail Williams bandmates. Recording for a new album started around this time, and the band began to post teasers of it. It was some time during this that van der Wal left, however, and was replaced with Kevin Lary for live shows. Finally, at the beginning of 2012, Global Flatline hit to positive reviews, pushing them back into the limelight; it was also during that year that Wilson and Segal left and were replaced by Danny Tunker and Mendel bij de Leij, with van der Wal rejoining sometime after. Much touring has followed, along with The Necrotic Manifesto, released in April 2014. As of September 2015, Danny Tunker has left the band, citing extreme burnout related to Aborted's heavy schedule, though he did stress that he is still buddies with everyone and that it is nothing personal. A new EP will be out sometime around the end of the year, and a new full-length will be out sometime in 2016; auditions will be held for Danny's replacement. Ian Jekelis (Abigail Williams) filled his slot around the end of 2015; while he does not appear on Termination Redux, he contributed to Retrogore, the upcoming full-length. An April release then followed. As of September 2016, JB van der Wal has left the band; Stefano Franceschini is his replacement.
In the summer of 2017, they released an EP entitled Bathos, while their tenth album TerrorVision was released on September 21, 2018. As of February 2019, Mendel bij de Leij has departed, citing that his heart just wasn't in the band any more. Harrison Patuto will be filling in on their spring 2019 US tour, but whether he will formally join remains to be seen.
Ultimately, Harrison did not last long, and after recording their eleventh album Maniacult as a quartet, the band welcomed Daniel Konráðsson as his replacement.
On January 4, 2024, bassist Stefano officially announced his departure from the band on amicable terms. Their 12th album Vault of Horrors will be the third and final release to feature him.
Major releases (they have a fairly large discography, so only the important items will be covered):
- The Purity of Perversion (1999)
- Engineering the Dead (2001)
- Goremageddon: The Saw and the Carnage Done (2003)
- The Haematobic EP (2004)
- The Archaic Abattoir (2005)
- The Auricular Chronicles (2006) - DVD
- Slaughter & Apparatus: A Methodological Overture (2007)
- Strychnine.213 (2008)
- Coronary Reconstruction (2010) - EP
- Global Flatline (2012)
- The Necrotic Manifesto (2014)
- Termination Redux (2016) - EP
- Retrogore (2016)
- Bathos (2017) - EP
- TerrorVision (2018)
- La Grande Mascarade (2020) - EP
- ManiaCult (2021)
- Vault of Horrors (2024)
EXEMPLARY BUTCHERY, OF THOSE WHO TROPE BEFORE ME!:
- A Good Name for a Rock Band: Even though Sven came up with the name only because he wanted the band to show up first in CD racks.
- Ascended Extra: Ian Jekelis, Stefano Franceschini, Harrison Patuto, and Daniel Konráðsson started out as live fill-ins but quickly became full-time members.
- Author Appeal: Sven really, really loves Hellraiser, if all the samples from the series didn't clue you in.
- Big Eater: Mendel. "Menjabba" ain't an official nickname for nothing.
- Black and Nerdy: Mendel.
- Break-Up Song: "Your Entitlement Means Nothing", probably.
- Brutal Death Metal: Mixed brutal death with goregrind to create their Signature Style.
- Cats Are Mean: Sven's "Skarewear" clothing line featured this theme for its launch lineup.
- Cover Version: So far, they've covered Suffer the Children, Carnal Forge, Drowned, Left Hand Path (Entombed), Surprise! You're Dead!, Slaughtered, Arise, Concubine, and Funeral Inception.
- Deathcore: Strychnine.213 had heavy elements of this, and the Ken Bedene-era material has featured increasingly prominent elements of it, particularly from Retrogore onward. They were also a major influence on many early acts in the genre, with acts like Suicide Silence, Whitechapel (especially Phil Bozeman, who cited Sven as one of his biggest vocal influences), Impending Doom, I Declare War, and Carnifex all listing them as an influence. Sven also has a side project named Coffin Feeder, who write EPs about serial killers and action movies, which dives headfirst into the genre.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: It can be a bit odd to listen to their pre-Goremageddon material, which is much less melodic and less polished than their later work. The Purity of Perversion in particular is not only rawer than anything after, but fairly standard brutal death that contains very little of the band's trademark elements.
- Gorn: Moreso on their early releases. Not to say that it isn't still used, however, to the point that vile lyrics are pretty much expected from them.
- Grindcore: Strongly influenced by it, goregrind in particular.
- Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow: Sven. He had long shoulder-length hair until Strychnine.213, during the making of which he trimmed down to a buzzcut. Circa Global Flatline, he shaved his head entirely and has stuck with this look since.
- I Am the Band: Sven. He is the only member to appear on all their albums and writes most of their lyrics.
- In the Style of: "Coffin Upon Coffin" was written in the style of a classic Carcass track.
- Indecipherable Lyrics: Though nowhere near as bad as most brutal death bands, due to the clear nature of Sven's highs. That being said, if you want to understand his lows without a lyric sheet, good luck.
- Lead Bassist: Stefano Franceschini is a Type A.
- Lead Drummer: Ken Bedene has made a name for himself in recent years due to his well-known speed, accuracy, power, technical ability, and creative cymbal work (having been referred to as a "human click track" due to his flawless replication of his parts live without ever using a click track), and he's also known for using a swivel-foot kick technique that allows for incredibly fast sustained double bass rolls; furthermore, he is a prolific songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who has played a substantial role in guiding their modern creative direction. Simply put, Ken is the creative core of Aborted now that Mendel is gone, and while it is still Sven's band at the end of the day, he will basically always defer to Ken.
- Loudness War: Usually avoided, as most of their albums, even modern releases, are mixed at a reasonable volume. The 2009 remastering of Goremageddon, however, plays this entirely straight.
- Master of All: Ken Bedene. While he is a drummer first and foremost (and one who is legendary for his extreme technical ability), he plays numerous other instruments, and anyone who has ever been in a band with the man will tell you that he probably plays a given instrument better than the person whose dedicated spot it is. He is also a prolific writer, and aside from Mendel (who is no longer in the band), no one has been more responsible for Aborted's modern style than he is.
- Melodic Death Metal: They've always had melodic overtones, but Abattoir dialed them up. That being said, they certainly aren't a full-fledged example.
- Metal Band Mascot: The Doctor (who was retired after The Necrotic Manifesto) and Wayland Thurston, who was introduced on the cover of ManiaCult and partnered up with Vulvodynia's own Bob the Butcher for a new album cover artwork invasion spree in July of 2021.
- Metal Scream: Sven has an extremely distinctive style of Type 2s that are a dry, terse bellow, as well as equally-distinctive highs that are a mix of a Type 1 and a Type 3. He also began including squawklike, deathcore-influenced highs on ManiaCult.
- Miniscule Rocking: "Your Entitlement Means Nothing" clocks in at a mere 1:44.
- Multinational Team: Sven is from Belgium, Stefano is from Italy, Dan is from Iceland, and Ken and Ian are from the US, and they have had members from various countries other than Belgium over the years, namely the Netherlands, France, the UK, and Israel. In fact, since Global Flatline, Sven himself has been the only member left from their country of origin thus far.
- New Sound Album: Several:
- Goremageddon featured more complex arrangements and a greater melodic undercurrent.
- Abattoir increased the melodic elements and added in some subtle but noticeable metalcore elements, which were carried over to (and arguably expanded on) Slaughter & Apparatus. The latter also has a few characteristics of Psycroptic thanks to Dave Haley's presence on drums.
- Strychnine.213 added in very noticeable deathcore elements.
- Coronary was something of a return to the Goremageddon sound, which was carried over to Global Flatline and The Necrotic Manifesto. Retrogore continues in the same vein.
- TerrorVision has prominent technical death metal elements.
- ManiaCult has noticeably more prominent blackened death metal elements.
- Vault of Horrors drops the blackened death elements of its predecessor and is largely a return to their Coronary-Retrogore sound, albeit with more noticeable deathcore elements present.
- Noodle Incident: Ken wants to make the tow truck incident this. Sven, of course, is all too happy to tell the whole story (which involves Ken attempting to get laid with some random girl in the van while the rest of the band was staying at a hotel and then finding out far too late that he had parked the van in a tow zone).
- Older Than They Look: Ken Bedene is 34 and looks like he's in his late teens to mid-twenties at most with the exception of his facial hair. Sven, meanwhile, is 46 but still looks like he's in his late twenties or early thirties, barring some grey hairs on his beard.
- Once an Episode: For a long time, they had at least one guest appearance from Julien Truchan per album since Global Flatline, with Maniacult finally breaking the trend after nearly ten years.
- Pedophile Priest: "Vestal Disfigurement upon the Sacred Chantry"
- Pintsized Powerhouse: Ken Bedene.
- Religion Rant Song: "Our Father, Who Art of Feces." "Divine Impediment" is a combination of this and Villain Song, being sung from the viewpoint of a Sinister Minister.
- Revolving Door Band: They've always had steady lineup changes, but come 2005 or 2006, they started going through at least two of them a year.
- Sampling: Film samples used to be a major part of their established style, but they gradually downplayed this over the course of the 2010s.
Word of God is that Century Media pushed the abandonment to some degree once they started getting bigger, as they became more and more likely to attract attention from rightsholders over unauthorized samples and the label wanted to avoid clearance nightmares. - Signature Style: Jumpy riffs with heavy use of blastbeats, frequent melodic overtones, vocals that go from a deep roar to a yelping screech, and heavy use of movie samples, particularly from the Hellraiser series.
- Soprano and Gravel: Sven can go from a low roar to a high yelping shriek.
- Special Guest: Most of their albums have at least two or three; listing them all would be exhausting, though more notable examples include Julien Truchan, Trevor Strnad, Jeff Walker, Keijo Niinimaa (Rotten Sound), Jason Netherton, Vincent Bennett, Phlegeton, Jason Keyser, Travis Ryan, Dave Davidson, Spiros Antoniou, Bo Summer, Michael Bogballe, Jacob Bredahl (ex-HateSphere), Sebastian Grihm, Filip Danielsson (Humanity's Last Breath, In Reverence), Joe Badolato, Ben Duerr, and Ryo Kinoshita. Sven is also a pretty frequent contributor with other bands. They've also had a few session players over the years; Dave Haley played drums on Slaughter & Apparatus, while Etienne Gallo, Nicolas Bastos, Kevin Verlay, and Josh Neale have all served as live session players.
- Vault of Horrors takes things a step further and features a guest on each song. In addition to Ben Duerr returning, the album adds newcomers Alex Erian, Francesco Paoli, Johnny Ciardullo (Angelmaker), Matt McGachy, Jay Evans, Hal Microutsicos (Engulf, Blasphemous), Oliver Aleron, David Simonich, and Ricky Hoover (Ov Sulfur, ex-Suffokate) to their roster of guests.
- Strictly Formula: The Ken Bedene-era Aborted albums, while all featuring their own individual motifs, have otherwise been pretty uniform stylistically.
- Take That!: "Your Entitlement Means Nothing" is a particularly venomous one of these to an unnamed party that is most likely Miri Milman, Sven's ex-wife (he's not saying anything on the matter and doesn't appreciate being asked about it, but there are some details that definitely seem to pinpoint her as the target). Meanwhile, "Coven of Ignorance" is an even less subtle attack on people who blindly share harebrained conspiracy theories and clickbait and post their ill-reasoned and badly-researched opinions on social media.
- Technical Death Metal: Prominent shades of this on TerrorVision, but they had the odd track in that style well before that (namely "Cadaverous Banquet" and "Excremental Veracity").
- Token Minority: Mendel bij de Leij is, along with Derrick Green, Terrance Hobbs, Mike Smith, Adam Warren, Malcolm Pugh, Chason Westmoreland, and Caller of the Storms (Blasphemy), one of the most famous black people in extreme metal.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Guacamole. Mendel is also extremely fond of vegan ice cream and donuts and can relentlessly plow through disgusting quantities of both with great gusto.
- True Companions: With Benighted; additionally, Danny is best buds with Christian Muenzner. The current lineup also seems to have become this with one another as a whole; multiple bands who have toured with them have noted how they act like a group of very good friends rather than a band offstage.
- Vocal Evolution: Sven's lows started out as more of a gurgle and less of a bellow, while his highs were originally somewhat lower and raspier. He also began incorporating raspy, squawk-like highs reminiscent of deathcore in addition to his regular ones on ManiaCult.
