Since the mid-‘90s Aborted have brought fans the dirt from beyond the grave, the gore from putrid wastelands and the worst corners of parts unknown with the most serial-intensive lyrics from the darkest most sadistic minds in history.
The Purity of Perversion began the Renfield platter of gruesome gore, blood-splatter and unspeakable acts. This year the Belgium born band release album 11 with a ManiaCult of modern inspiration and lyrical purging. It’s a morbid concept and multi-faceted reflection of our times with a horror inspired look at the many layers of mental illness that inspire delusions of grandeur and destruction.
They’re still poster boys and spokesman for the deep underground, bringing up buried stories of the dead for decades with the help of a few necro-reanimated limbs.
Though, given global circumstances, they’ve adapted, with members in different corners of the planet to produce band content, with a sly wretched smile of decayed humor. The majority of videos from the new cult have been utterly laughable and intentionally so. Then again, how many times have you or could you say death metal and Scooby- Doo in the same sentence?
The newest video from Belgium, completely aborts the time tested formula of gore, dark imagery and live show footage for the band. The screen is replaced by animated shenanigans by every kid’s favorite mystery solving gang and dog from the ‘70s.
The video for “Dementophobia” is mostly fun and games but being viciously killed by the monster/bad guy after unmasking wouldn’t exactly be suitable for Saturday morning viewing. “That’s for sure. We try and do things a little different. That was a lot of fun,” long time vocalist Sven De Caluwé says” The ongoing pandemic has the band members separated by country and ocean. “Due to the situation with members living in the U.S., Belgium and Italy we have no way of doing a video together so we figured, the best way to do it was a cartoon or something. The first thing I came up with was this silly Scooby-Doo video where we’re Mystery Inc and the ghost we’re chasing is actually Wayland from the album and ends up killing all of us.”
They bring a new meaning to adult cartoon, “That was the idea and Claudia (Cortés Espejo) did an awesome job representing people in the band. It’s all just fun, having a good time, and this fits perfectly.”
De Caluwé’s immortalized as Fred now. “Yeah, I guess so.” Now he has to wear a white sweater and orange scarf every day, though the video wink’s at specific things in the cartoons original opening and sequences.
The title means the fear of insanity. The main character Wayland Thurston thinks the demons are real but they’re not. “Exactly it’s all schizophrenia, he’s got delusions and this whole cult that’s bringing the world to its knees but it’s really all in his head. He’s bat shit crazy.”
The ways the demons come out of him in the cartoon looks kinda Hellraiser inspired but are based on the cover. De Caluwé wanted a crazy maniac, slasher type figure that’s trying to summon demons but it’s the voices in his head. “Pretty much some Lovecraftian influence as well. That’s how we visualized everything. It’s not really Hellraiser though I don’t mind the comparison at all. It’s one of my favorite movies.” People might think of good ole Dr. Channard. “Yeah I can see that.”
Thurston’s been made into collectors plastic with action style grip. “We made Wayland action figures but you can get that on our webstore. There are two versions, a limited edition, than a regular one. We always try to do something special for the fans and something crazy. This time around, why not an action figure?” He’s not available for retail, just website and in person. So hs demons won’t be available at Toy ‘R Us or Macy’s this holiday season. “We kept a couple super-limited editions for the tour. That’s it. We didn’t make that many.”
The video for “ManiaCult” features a spoof tabloid-like newspaper with laughable-insane headlines and stories, several of which the band came up with. “It’s inspired by real life sadly. The funny thing is there’s a good amount that are actually real. The fun is figuring out which ones. One of them is a man that threw an alligator at a drive thru window. That actually happened.” To appreciate every headline and story will be a lesson and challenge in blast beat pausing.
It’s a funny, sarcastic but sadly accurate stab at social media habits/trends, fake news and clickbait culture. “We made up a bunch to make it not serious and completely over the top, to see how far we could go to make people believe this stuff.”
Though it’s not all fun and games with a death metal growl, if you go back a few videos the humor dies a quick blackened death with the not funny at all dark spiritual cloud of “Impetus Odi” with Behemoth like graphic content. “It’s done by the same director. I gave him the lyrics and concept and he came up with all these scenes and everything. I laughed at first. I read the script then was like you think it’ll look good let’s go for it. It turned out cool. He did a really good job. Everything was done in a day, it was crazy. They built like seven sets. There’s like 30 actors on set they worked like maniacs it was crazy.” Very impressive considering the amount of detail in certain costumes and room décor.
There’s no shortage of screaming, in your face, riffs torn out from six feet under, echoing the sounds of the dead. Fans will take heed and pleasure in the collection of inner insanity ManiaCult has to offer.
“Drag me to Hell” was inspired by its namesake movie. “Fun movie that went under the radar, I thought it was a fun, ridiculous movie, very Sam Raimi with a very high Evil Dead feel to it in my opinion.” The old lady did a great job, “And the young girl just getting shit tossed into her mouth in the movie.”
When it comes to comparing horror movies to Aborted’s music, many might go for Saw’s brutality or The Evil Dead’s splatter-fest with humor but De Caluwé’s says he’d pick the sharp, shredding glove of Freddy Kreuger any day. “I‘d say A Nightmare on Elm Street honestly. It’s got the terror, the humor and the silliness as well. That would probably fit us best.”
He enjoys the humorless original, “I think the first one isn’t funny whatsoever. It’s pretty terrifying for the time, especially seeing it first time as a kid. They added the humor later in Dream Warriors when they started getting more puns, than got sillier and sillier from there on.”
Halloween Kills is finally looming and breathing down the dark alley later this month, “The last one was really good. It got rid of all the shitty ones.” Including Resurrection, “Yes, that was bad, that was terrible. Honestly, I liked the first two, then I just, it didn’t go anywhere.”
He’d love to be in a horror movie. ”There was a period where they were going to do a Dutch horror zombie movie that looked really cool. It had FX people working on it from Lord of the Rings. I put myself up to be a zombie then the movie didn’t get made.” If it was a slasher he’d be fine with any role, killer or victim.” I don’t mind dying first as long as it’s a gruesome, funny death.”
Another older video in the dark spiritual dreamscape was “Vespertine Decay.” “Honestly, we shot that video we shot the band a while back. The director decided to add some story. We actually didn’t have much say. He just came up with something. We were like alright I guess. You’d have to ask him.”
Aborted’s music doesn’t exactly have boundaries but if there’s a movie in De Caluwé’s mind that just went too far, its… “Everything in A Serbian Film. I had no idea what it was. I watched it with our drummer. He and our bass player had seen it. They just said, you gotta see it. They didn’t tell me anything about it and we watched it and I was like what the fuck is this? It’s not a good movie, shock value, that’s all it is really. There’s plenty of that when you look aside.”
They haven’t played since 2020, “No not at all. We can’t. I’ve been practicing and rehearsing with a new band comprised of people from Belgium.” Though he has a gig on the most metal night of the year, Halloween. “I did one song with friends (recently) and was actually my first show since January 2020, which is crazy. I’m looking forward to getting back to it soon.”
They will tentatively tour next spring, “February and March, we’re doing a full European tour with the Acacia Strain. That should be awesome. It’ll be the first time I’ve seen the guys again in about two years. Very excited for that and hopefully U.S. next summer.”
The first show back will be emotional to say the least. “I’m pretty sure it’s gonna be very emotional shows. I hope it’s not going to be a spike of euphoria in the beginning, then go back to the same old as before. I hope people realize the importance of having an escape and music.”
They’ve made a career out of writing about sick, gnarly, twisted shit, from gore, to war, to the darkest corners of a serial-killers mind. Even adding Jeffrey Dahmer’s apartment number to an album cover and recreating one of Charles Manson’s most known interview quotes in a song intro.
De Caluwé admits he probably spent a little too much time invested in serial research back in the day, “When I was in my 20s, I spent a lot of time reading and learning about serial killers. I spent way too much time watching documentaries and reading books. I obviously know about a lot of that stuff.”
If there was ever a positive spin put on serial killers, it’s Dexter. The maniacally popular series is even returning after one of the most unpopular endings in history. “I’m excited to see it. That finale is one of the worst I’ve ever seen.” They took their appreciation of the Bay Harbor Butcher to the camera with the video for “Cenobites.”
For the time being, they’re taking a break on videos. “We might have some in the future. For now we’re just looking forward to getting back on stage and doing the tours.”
He says, the story of Thurston isn’t finished and they have a lot of cool stuff coming up still. “I think people will be excited.” He can’t say for certain but a graphic novel or other art may be in the future.
It’s too early to decide a live set. “What we usually do, like we did with TerrorVision, we play the entire album on pre-production and make up a set of new songs and figure what songs fit best on the live set. We’re gonna have to see how it feels when we’re playing on stage.”
After a two year absence, the pits will be legendary for the tour. “Yeah I’m very excited.”
He’s glad they missed the sitting down with masks and social distancing, early return of live shows. “It sucks we have to wait this long but at the same time I don’t think Aborted is a band where you wanna be sitting down. Nor do I wanna be onstage with people sitting down. What do you say, instead of kill somebody? Slap the person next to you. Do it!”
Once touring resumes, he has mixed feelings about cell phones in the crowd. “It depends. The one time it was super annoying was in Dublin, Ireland and had the entire front row shoving cell phones in your face. I mean actually shoving it in your face. They would even come up on stage between songs and ask for selfies and you’re like, what the fuck are you doing dude? What’s your problem?
There was no security, “You’re trying not to be rude but at some point you’re just like, stop being a moron and get off the fucking stage. I’m sorry, you know… you’re performing and they’re standing next to you wiping out their phone and doing fucking selfie shit. You’re like, are you fucking serious right now?” He had to compose himself and not give into potential issues. “I would’ve kicked them off but didn’t want legal action. At some point you just gotta be like, you can come up here, stage dive, have fun with us but show some respect at the same time.”
They’ve done official meet and greets the past two tours now, “I don’t like charging people money to hang out. It feels forced. I’m the kind of guy that will just be out, around the venue and hang out at merch. If people wanna say hi and hang out they can. The meet and greet thing we did was more to get an exclusive item, that’s the way to get it along with your ticket. I don’t enjoy, taking more money from the fans. They’re already paying for the ticket, buying a shirt, bought the music. We’re musicians, just come and hang out. I don’t need your money to say hi.”
They’re still a leery thing for many bands. “A lot of bands I’m speaking to, they just try to keep their distance. It’s a little difficult. For fans, if they catch (Covid) at a show, you have to quarantine for a week then when you’re on tour, your entire tour gets cancelled basically.” It’s lost time and income. “It’s a crap shoot at that point.”
Upcoming shows ‘might’ have their version of Eddie with a life sized Wayland. “There’s gonna be Wayland is some shape or form. I can tell you that.” You can buy the figure at merch and maybe see him on stage.
Depending on how things go, the next record ‘might’ be a sequel to the maniac’s story. “I don’t know yet. Let’s see how this goes first. We’re having fun with it. It’s all up to if we get bored with it or see it going any further. In the past, we’ve had The Doctor as a recurring thing. I’ve been wanting to bring some sort of figure back since the ‘80s and ‘90s. Horror’s such a big part of our brand and image. Having our own little Eddie would be cool.”
They’re planning on playing the U.S. by next summer, “I hope. That’s the plan. It’s been a while since we’ve been now. The last tour was supposed to be in the states, then got cancelled when shit hit the fan. Hopefully we can get back out there and everything’s back to normal by next summer. I really hope so.”
The cult is available and hopefully Thurston will be fighting his demons on stage early next year. “Check it out and come around on tour.”
Another of his co-created morbid visions Fetal Blood Eagle will release their first album on Listenable Records in February. It’s music Inspired by the beautiful minds of Aborted, Solium Fatalis and Necronomichrist. “It’s definitely with a good since of humor, a more oldschool approach to death metal, really brutal hooks and heaviness. You could compare it to Cannibal Corpse and Hate Eternal.”
If you haven’t already, come join the cult, it’s Euro-brutality at its best like an Italian cinematic gore-fest on record. Not to mention Thurston makes a great Christmas gift for the one day a year the family metal head’s forced to wear a holiday sweater or the unsuspecting impressionable child.
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