Review of the Album "Abducted" by Swedish Death Metal Band Hypocrisy

Swedish death metal veterans Hypocrisy have not only made me believe in their musical abilities through each album they have had but they also show me that regardless of the death metal style they use, they have that ability to make it work and sound more than satisfactory.

After the short mostly instrumental track “The Gathering” the melodies kick in and with their 1996 studio album Abducted, they have entered the melodic death metal genre. I also hear the influence of the band Hatesphere in the song called "Roswell 47".

"Roswell 47" the Significance Behind the Song

Lyrically, the song is about the real life story of the fact that in 1947, a US Army Air Force balloon that crashed in Roswell, New Mexico. The narrative was that a balloon had crashed. But that incident was being disputed. The public was looking for answers in this incident but it looks like whatever it was crashed. The starting riff for Roswell 47 is one of the best that Hypocrisy has ever created.

Abducted also came out in the same year as the amazing album by In Flames called The Jester Race. The song Killing Art has Peter Tagtgren using a sort of raspy voice and even the sound in this album is slightly different than “The Fourth Dimension” in 1994. I hear a sort of riff construction that sounds like In Flames and both of these bands were formed at around the same time.

"The Arrival of the Demons (Part 2)" starts out slowly as the song lyrically tells the tale of someone that waits for the full moon to rise as he is ready to carry out his mission for the wrong side. But thankfully, Hypocrisy’s lyrics in the album Abducted has less to do with evil topics which is a good thing. By the time we get to the song Buried, lyrically it is like Cannibal Corpse and the song is really heavy as you can hear in the riffing. If the first two Hypocrisy albums were like old school death metal, Abducted stylistically is more in the genre of melodic death metal. Melodic death metal is more creative than your standard death metal band in most cases. Peter begins to use a more raspy vocal growl in this song.

The title track of this album lyrically tells the story of a man that was kidnapped one night back in 1994 as he was abducted from his home. But when he wakes up he sees that everyone is gone. He wonders what is going on. Even if the album has a dark feel to it, we are reminded of the greatness of Swedish melodic death metal with its riffing and intricate melodies. "Point of No Return" is a song that tries to tell us to not be afraid of death for death is a natural thing that happens to all of us eventually. There is a criticism of priests and Christians in this song as well. Paradox in terms of its style resembles In Flames during the era of Whoracle, Colony, or even Clayman. The song is about someone that claims to hear voices in his head and he wants to end his life to escape the pain that he is going through. Ending your life means that you will have cheated yourself out of a wonderful opportunity to learn various spiritual lessons but in terms of the album, Abducted is still a darn good release especially for 1996. Even if the album lyrically is about themes which are not the most pleasant, Hypocrisy have matured into a group of guys that can play well together.