You know how we tend to associate different places with certain sounds - like Florida with thrash and oldschool death metal, Gothenburg with melo-death metal, and my bathroom with off-key renditions of 'Dancing Queen'? That reminds me, did you hear about this typo (involving an extra 'th') made on a set of concert flyers that had several black metal fans turn up at an Abba reunion gig? The funny thing is, most of them knew all the lyrics, man. No joke.

What I mean is, when you start caring about the details, you have extra opportunities to bore others with them. Case in point: The Absence are an outfit from Tampa, Florida and seem to be deadset on running full-tilt with the melodic-DM torch gripped in their sweaty hands. Somebody say 'irony!' and spare me the trouble. Should we be getting all riled about this zone violation, or just wave our hands indifferently? Well, when the output is this capable, I'd say neither - this one is worth the effort of throwing those horns up.

The album rips out of the box with the pummelling title track, trading riffs and solos like they were mp3 cds, and funnelling into an awesome chug-control breakdown, before opening it up to let the solo rip. Yeah, I know - which one? It sometimes feels like he's soloing whenever he sees an opening. This strangely enough doesn't distract or detract from the music, owing largely to the fact that the leads are mostly the tasteful and ballsy kind. I'd say it's just like a cherry on top, but I hate cherries, so make it one of those Ferrero Rocher chocolate balls and you've got the idea.

Other moments that gave me the kicks were the acoustic middle-eastern intro to 'The Murder', which inevitably explode into a glorious blitz of zigzag riffage. Oh, also mentioning the bang-your-head infectiousness of the mid-tempo 'World Divides', and the way the solo there goes on and on for what seems like a full third of the song's total length. Love the solo too, so I'm not complaining. Their entirely instrumental 'Prosperity' sounds a bit like something Opeth might do, so the continental flavour is pushed up another notch. As if to balance that out, they've thrown in a totally scorching cover of 'Into the Pit', which serves as a better testament (haha) to the love for their bay-area roots than any speechifying could. All non-believers get the hell out.

I'd say this doesn't really go anywhere innovative or groundbreaking, and some may find the lack of variety grating after some time, but it's still a solid slab of metal that stays impressive thanks to the energy and conviction that blares through. My picks would be the songs I've mentioned above. Knock yourselves out.

Lineup:

Jaime Stewart - Vocals

Peter Joseph - Guitar
Patrick Pintavalle - Guitar, Vocals
Jeramie Kling - Drums, Back-Up Vocals
Mike Leon - Bass

Year of release: 2007

Label: Metal Blade  

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