Review by Maciek on September 27, 2020.

It seems that over the last few years more and more French metal bands are getting my attention, don't know whether I was not aware of the metal scene there or if it has grown that much recently. Either way I am very glad I heard this album and it is amongst my favourite albums of all time now.

The band seems to be a one-man project with M-Kha doing most of the composing and playing all instruments with support of Alix R. playing bass and writing some lyrics and Laurent C. playing rhythm guitars and doing choirs, both are also listed as the band's live line-up.

Their style has been described as atmospheric black metal and that seems to be the perfect description. It's definitely got black metal as the main ingredient, but with some doomy elements, with haunting melody lines being played throughout most of the tracks in the background. And probably those melody lines are the part that grabbed me the most - once they entered my head through my ears, they decided to stay there for good. I remember listening to Deliverance's "Holocaust 26:1-46" album (another good French production) and thinking about "Sancte Iohannes" track that it would be cool to have a whole album where you could find that kind of atmosphere and Aodon has perfectly answered my wish. And in every single track. To find some other comparisons I would describe it as a darker, less catchy version of Kampfar ('L'oeuvre' track, for example), but with an even bigger ability to provide you with plenty of earworms which in my case are just impossible to get rid of.

The rhythm section is very good, there are plenty of proper black metal fast tempos, but there's a lot of variety to it, especially during those haunting passages, which got stuck in my head. The vocals are black metal shrieks with that "howling" style that reminded me of Deliverance mentioned before. All lyrics are in French, so to get the full experience I had to use Google Translate, but I think that the vocals are clear enough for someone who knows the language to get it without the need to read the lyrics. Which are very dark, depressive and a perfect match with the cover art. The guitars are perfectly balanced, the sound production is generally very good, you can clearly hear all instruments and the vocalist, which is also a big advantage. It's very difficult for me to pick a favourite track, because in my opinion all are perfect from the beginning to the end. It keeps me hooked on every sound, no matter if it's fast black metal parts or clean guitar fills.

Grab a bite of this piece of metal and see if it's for you, too. And share with your friends, family, neighbours and enemies. Because good music should be shared.

Rating 10 out of 10

Review by Dominik on November 8, 2024.

Abattoir’s “Vicious Attack”, followed by “The Only Safe Place”, is a perfect example of “creative destruction” gone wrong in the metal world. As Austrian economist J. Schumpeter would have pointed out, sometimes you have to tear something down to build something better anew on the ruins of your former creation. Sadly, Abattoir and some of their peers, like Agent Steel, took this concept a little too far, dismantling the raw power (Abattoir) and elegance (Agent Steel) of their debut albums in favor of something much tamer and weaker on their semaphore releases. But let’s focus on the good times—1985, when the world was still in order, and “Vicious Attack” stood as a fiery monument of speed metal.

Though the two bands seemed to have an exchange program going, swapping and moving a few members across as if they were playing musical chairs at a particularly chaotic party, they both managed to forge their own distinct identities and not become copycats of each other. Where Agent Steel leaned on high-pitched vocals and smoother delivery, Abattoir was more like the scrappy gang of street punks who, after mugging an 80-year-old grandma, realized they had the right kind of attitude for a vicious musical assault. The band’s debut is an unpolished gem of early-speed metal that gleefully stomps its way through eight tracks of raw aggression, delivering the kind of relentless energy you’d expect from a gang of thugs who just stole a shopping cart full of booze. This album isn’t polished—it’s a figurative punch to the face, delivered with the reckless abandon of hardened L.A. street warriors.

Sure, as said, “Vicious Attack” is rooted in speed metal, but there’s something grittier and more feral about Abattoir’s approach like they were more interested in starting a riot than getting the songs perfect. There’s not too much focus on precision here, no clean edges; it is abrasive and natural with the production as raw and dirty as an oil rag, but that’s part of the charm. The album strikes a balance between faster and slower tracks, with moments that hint at where the band would later go; watered down aggression, more power than speed metal (“The Living and the Dead”). However, the faster songs dominate, and it’s here where the album truly shines, offering up some early gems of extreme metal.

The opener, “Screams from the Grave,” is a mission statement—blazing speed, catchy verses, and choruses that make you feel like you’ve been thrown into a high-speed chase through the dark alleyways of L.A. Steve Gaines’ gruff, snarling vocals fit perfectly with the band’s unrefined sound, which is as jagged as a broken bottle. Along with “Don’t Walk Alone,” the album’s standout tracks, these songs showcase how Abattoir crafted their aggression into memorable, fist-pumping anthems. The battle between Gaines’ vocals and the lead guitar in the chorus of “Don’t Walk Alone” is especially fierce, leaving a lasting impression.

The remaining tracks might not hit quite as hard, but they hold their own. “Game of Death” features some strong guitar solos, while the cover of Motörhead’s “Ace of Spades” is given a treatment that likely would have made Lemmy raise a glass in approval, before knocking over a few chairs—rough around the edges, just like it should be.

The tragedy of Abattoir is how quickly they pivoted from this intense, street-level sound to a more commercial direction, ultimately tearing down what made their debut so visceral. By 1987’s “The Only Safe Place”, it was clear the band had traded in the switchblade for something far duller. But on “Vicious Attack”, Abattoir managed to harness the reckless energy of the L.A. underground scene and bottle it for just under 28 minutes of pure, unapologetic metal. In the grander scheme of 1985, “Vicious Attack” offered a fresh nuance to the growing extreme metal scene, though it never got the full recognition it deserved. And, as history shows, the band disbanded far too early, leaving us with a potent yet short-lived slice of metal history.

Rating: 8.7/10 - because while “Vicious Attack” isn’t perfect, it’s an authentic, no-nonsense speed metal attack that fans should treasure before the band moves on to something far less exciting.