The rules for making a concept album in hardcore are ambiguous. Making a decent record with a brutal theme and a shit ton of energy is a good start. With beautiful album artwork including cold, grey waves and a print of Hell from The Divine Comedy, Shipwreck AD's Abyss themes itself on the story of a man coming up from a watery abyss, washing ashore, and finally ascending a mountain, with the final track "Zenith" written from it's peak. Laden with chuggachugga riffs, dark, clean guitar intros, and gravelly, Boston sounding vocals, the music is heavy, and played aggresively enough, so there are definitely stand out epic moments. Musically, some tracks only serve to attach the songs before and after them, and aren't anything special. Lyrically, a few of the songs leave something to be desired, and could even be simplified to contribute to the barren, stark feel to the record. Still, these guys know how to bring the raw energy, which they translate well. I really enjoyed the vocals and the band is heavy as hell. Overall, a decent record. Look for it next to bongs and copies of moby dick..
-Studwell
