ABSTRACT RATPURE - Hollow Motion

11 songs
50:24 minutes
***** ***
Black'n'Purple

Bandpage

How time flies! It’s hard to believe that Luxembourgish thrash metal band Abstract Rapture has been around already since 2001. A first career highlight was when they won the local Metal Battle preselection in 2007 and obtained a respectful third place in the big finale in Wacken. Two albums came out, Democadencia in 2008 and Earthcrush in 2011, before it became quieter, apart from the occasional live show. It was only in late 2018 that they came back with their impressive third longplayer Hollow Motion.

There have been line-up changes, with the guitarist and bassist from Retrace My Fragments having joined the band. I have the impression that Abstract Rapture sound more modern than before. Without doing anything truly new, Abstract Rapture still know how to combine different genres into a tasty menu. Pantera, Gojira and Stone Sour are only a few bands that may have left their traces. At times the quintet is melodic, then really harsh, and there are also a lot of groove metal moments. The same goes for the vocals that can growl but also actually sing. The Cancer In Your Soul is a good example to show off the band’s potential. Inner Plague is a more complex track full of progressive and emotional moments that make for a suspenseful listening experience.

Unfortunately the album loses some of its steam later on. Venom Skies is at seven minutes a gloomy piece that despite that some really cool moments also suffers a bit from long-windedness. The same counts for Hollow Soul which lacks pace and due to its more commercial nature feels as if it had been written for the American rock radio market. This is really a song the album could have done without.

It doesn’t really matter if you see Abstract Rapture as a thrash metal, nu metal or maybe even groove metal band, because in the end, it’s all metal that most of the time can convince. Seven years between albums was a truly long waiting time, but Abstract Rapture are back and on the right track with Hollow Motion. Let us hope that we won’t have to wait until 2025 for its successor.