You can’t imagine that a complete line-up change save one member could be good preparation prior to recording an album, but this is exactly what Death Metal stalwarts Aborted did. Last man standing it has to be said is the (all most) irreplaceable Sven de Caluwe, but have Aborted returned like a marauding horde of crazed zombies or is “Global Flatline” destined to disappear into Death Metal annuls of mediocrity?

The answer is its somewhere in between. Gone is the Aborted that adopted the ill-advised Deathcore sound that so dogged 2008’s “Strychnine.213”, but we are a long way from the band who gave us “The Purity of Perversion” and “Engineering the Dead”. The Aborted of 2012, new line-up in tow appears at first listen of “Global Flatline” to be confused. While the musicianship is flawless the hybrid breed of Deathcore and Death Metal make for odd bed fellows.

The album’s gorefest lyrical content thankfully hasn’t been omitted and the slower paced tracks such as “Coronary Reconstruction” hark back to the bands earlier releases. Eran Segal and Mike Wilson’s guitar work is sharper than a bag of razors, with Sven de Caluwe’s vocals as guttural as ever. Making “Global Flatline” a real treat for any old school Death Metaller, which makes it all the more frustrating when tracks such as “From A Tepid Whiff” pull you right back into the heavy Deathcore influenced screeching vocals and frenzied typhoon like fret work.

Aborted will always be a name synonymous with European Death Metal, and their gore packed anthems are straight out of the Hammer Horror book of lyrics; who could forget "Nailed Through Her Cunt"? But like so many Death Metal acts Aborted have strayed too far from the formula that made the likes of “Engineering the Dead” such essential Death Metal releases. “Global Flatline” does have enough moments however to restore your faith that the band are back on the path to embracing their heritage, flesh eating zombies and all.