UK, London based death metal act ABHORRENT DECIMATION‘s debut album “Miasmic Mutation” is out now. Vocalist Ashley Scott describes this album as “a true labour of love” and had recently spoken of the lyrical content and inspiration behind the songs. “I had just finished reading Dante’s The Divine Comedy again and was really into the notion of personal exile and the journey of life in general. Inspired, I came up with the starting block for the record’s concept, which was to create three passages, akin to The Divine Comedy except I would choose Life, Death and Afterlife. I was particularly adamant we would have nine songs on the final cut so that would allow me three songs per passage to explore the ideas and stories I wanted to tell. Some of the songs are total fantasy but most of them are literal and metaphorical reflections on situations I was experiencing or had experienced around the time of writing, adapted to fit the concept. The mutation itself is a personification of my thoughts, encompassing all these notions of life, death and the afterlife.”

To celebrate its release Ashley has offered some further insight into the stories behind each song on the album.

Watch The Lyric Video For ‘Glaciate The Servants’ here:

Glaciate The Servants – Story of Death
This song is the soundtrack to a holy cull. The message is simple, ‘eradicate faith’ and ‘obliterate belief’. Bring forward the death of the billions who are still worshipping the ancient prophecies. Of all the things we could channel our energy, focus and love towards people still revere doctrine? It also explores the widely quoted statement that ‘God is dead’. You cannot kill that which has not lived, however you can terminate an ideology by opposing it.

The Icon of Loss – Story of Afterlife
This is one of my fantasy reflections of what I think the afterlife may be like. NOTHING. Your time has come and that is the end. Death simply gives life a definition. No glory gates, no visions of martyrs. No virgins, no demons. You are put to rest and become one with the earth, history personified.

Eternal Repulsion – Story of Afterlife
This track is a conclusion to ‘Glaciate The Servants’ and in my opinion this is the most ferocious track on the album. Fast paced and vicious in its delivery. Everything about this song is violent; the concept for this one again, is fantasy. It’s written from the perspective of the mutation and of vexed disciples. The mutation has frozen Earth, trapping all the inhabitants. No one escapes and no one goes beyond. The age of gods is dead and we are stuck in its frozen tomb.

Souls Of Sedation – Story of Life
Souls originally came from somewhat of an unorthodox place of inspiration; it was actually the opening sample from a Bobby Womack track that then inspired me to write the lyrics on this one. The sample says… “As a singer grows older, his conception grows a little deeper, because he lives life and he understands what he’s trying to say a little more. If the singer tries to find out what’s happening in life it gives him a better insight on telling the story of the song he’s trying to sing”… I wanted to really try and pin down some process of emotion that I felt passionate about. I wrote about how torn I feel in life between the pursuit of my dreams and the reality that I am a provider for a family with responsibility and other people to consider before myself and while it may seem cliché, I wrote about knowingly suppressing myself with a painted smile, while another self longs to be free. Once I finished it I realised that a lot of people could really connect with this theme, it’s something I think we can all connect to in some way, shape or form and it’s one of my favourite set of lyrics off the record.

…For The Desperately Lost – Story of Life
This song is for the desperately lost. They know who they are.

Miasmic Mutation – Story of Death
Back to the fun stuff! This song is total fantasy and as the title track, it is about the mutation itself. Having now frozen the Earth and all its inhabitants it begins to feast on the sedated souls of those trapped in its icy tomb. Its feast is not supposed to be interpreted as slaughter; instead it is a metaphor for rapture. The mutation is cleansing and it is setting each and every one of them free on a new path of life, in death.

Echoes of the Vortex – Story of Death
This song is about taking secrets to the grave, we all have one, some/many. I explore the idea of the pain it may cause to take things like this to the grave. Whilst the mutation is taking your souls and moving you in to rapture, it acts as the ever-listening ear and offers you a chance to set free your darkest of secrets, the vortex is your confession booth. Enter the vortex, share your secrets and leave them echoing in there forever. However, there is a catch – the more secrets the mutation learns of, the stronger it grows.

Terminal Reality – Story of Life
A few years back my Grandfather was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s; at the time I did not understand the severity of this disease. I then realised it was terminal and that hit hard, after I had processed the situation – in a round about way I was inspired by how frustrated I felt for my family on the outside of his illness. I still can’t comprehend that he has no control of what he is losing from his mind, a long life of memories and happiness with a family that he built from the ground up, all the experiences and countless (seemingly menial) daily actions that you and I consider normal have now become a struggle for him. I was struggling to make it work as lyrics but was passionate to make something on it, so I injected a little fantasy into it and made a comparison to his lack of control against all the indoctrinated minds in the world that have control and the luxury of choice. Cue spiritual genocide, and a sacrifice of all things divine in a bid to save his mind.

Odious – Story of Afterlife
Odious as a concept is a message from the afterlife, it’s a very bleak reflection of life, death and the beyond. In my mind, I always had it penned as the finale as it was set to capture the brutal but very negative spirit of the concept in one song. The message comes from someone who is trapped in the ice by the mutation, soul removed, dead. It looks at the emptiness of death itself and the idea of time continuing regardless of our existence. A lot of ignorant people think the world revolves around them; however it existed long before you arrived and will continue far beyond what you can fathom. I was pitching for something a little theatrical here, perhaps to lead us into the next record as we all have an idea of where our material is going to go.

Order Miasmic Mutation from the band’s official website: www.abhorrentdecimation.com

UK’s spiritually irreverent death metal export ABHORRENT DECIMATION are set to release their hugely anticipated debut album “Miasmic Mutation”, in various formats, worldwide on September 25th. Mixed and Mastered by Ronnie Björnström (Aeon, Apostasy, Bodyfarm, Krow).

Today the band has unveiled a brief snippet of audio from the album. Watch the trailer below.

https://youtu.be/vdbiuS4lPgM

Miasmic Mutation Track Listing
1) Glaciate the Servants
2) The Icon of Loss
3) Eternal Repulsion
4) Souls of Sedation
5) … For the Desperately Lost
6) Miasmic Mutation
7) Echoes of the Vortex
8) Terminal Reality
9) Odious

The band enlisted renowned Swedish artist Pär Olofsson (Bloodshot Dawn, Exodus, Hour Of Penance, Revocation) to complete the artwork for “Miasmic Mutation”. Vocalist Ashley Scott comments, “I had the name for the record a LONG time ago. As early as July 2014 I knew I wanted the record to be called Miasmic Mutation and I think originally I wanted something orange; super bright and obnoxious, something to juxtapose the look of the Infected Celestial Utopia EP. Writing was taking shape but slowly, I figured getting the art done would not only drive things forward in the project but I thought it would also force me into a place of inspiration for the concept and lyrics. I considered a few people for the job, I mailed Pär first off but was also talking with Seth Siro and a few other artists to see who was up for the project. Truly I got the best vibe from Pär, not to mention his huge back catalogue of amazing art; coincidently most of which adorns some my favourite death metal records. So once we got the small stuff out the way, we moved onto the concept. He asked for some very loose direction on the piece, which totally worked for me as I wanted him to have as much creative head room as possible. I think I shared three images with him, one of an icy landscape, one of an ominous cloud and then finally I sent him the Gustave Doré print ‘Satan’. I explained that I could see a vast icy landscape full of frozen bodies, and that I wanted a huge split in the ice to break up the landscape compositionally. From the horizon or split I wanted the ‘Miasmic Mutation’ to be taking form. I couldn’t find any reference images to explain what I was seeing in my head, so I pretty much left it to him. All I said was, ‘The mutation, I imagine to be made of gas, like smoke, it is taking on a physical form in the shape of a beast/monster, but it is not finished yet, so it has some physical features but is not fully transformed. You can interpret this entity as you see fit.” As for what the mutation signifies, I had just finished reading Dante’s ‘The Divine Comedy’ again and was really into the notion of personal exile and the journey of life in general, how we develop through age and learning, etc. The record addresses life, death and the afterlife. The mutation itself is a personification of my thoughts, encompassing all these notions of life, death and the afterlife.”

Abhorrent Decimation will tour through the UK in October in support of “Miasmic Mutation”, dates to follow.

Pre-Order the Miasmic Mutation from the band’s official website: http://www.abhorrentdecimation.com

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