The album opens up with the title track "Programmed to Consume", using some static and a deranged voice panning left to right and back again to give this apocalyptic feeling right from the start. At the end of this strange message you get the hear the power of the drums, the guitars, and something else, Elliot's vocals. They are nothing short of amazing switching it up from the low growls to these powerful highs which have some clarity to the pronunciations. [1]
There are a good amount of memorable tracks on this album i.e. Twilight's Fallen, Grotesque Modern Art, and this beautiful instrumental aeon Aomegas. Twilight's Fallen starts off with a catchy rhythm to it. It gives the drummer a chance to do more than the standard blasts and double bass. The chorus also features some nice backing vocals from Jacob Enfinger of Reciprocal, giving a strong foundation for the song. [1]
The band’s sound is a nice who’s who of classic death metal with songs bearing touches of everything from Malevolent Creation to Morbid Angel and Suffocation while the lead playing reminds me of Decapitated. It is in fact the guitar playing of Charles Elliot and Ian Jekelis that sets this band apart from a large chunk of their peers. The songs are full of great riffs that go from jackhammer intensity to slowed down atmospheric guitar parts and every song on this album has at least one really big fat groove. The high quality lead playing is simply the icing on the cake. Elliot also turns in a very good performance as vocalist alternating between a solid death metal growl a raspy voice that is very effective. [2]
Overall, Programmed to Consume is a high quality death metal album. The band is not doing anything new within the genre but much like Thorium, they stick to writing memorable songs within a well established framework and manage to pull off a very enjoyable album. Also, with the level of improvement between the debut and this album the band might well pull off something truly special next time around. As it is, they’ve come pretty close this time. [2]
Tracks
- Programmed to Consume
- Compulsory Resurrection
- Twilight's Fallen
- Grotesque Modern Art
- A Remission of Life
- The Descent
- Aeon Aomeges
- Cease to Comprehend
- Walk the Path of Fire
Abysmal Dawn - Programmed to Consume (2008)
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