Album Review: The Absence - Coffinized
Reviewed by Richard Oliver
Florida is a well renowned hotbed when it comes to death metal with some of the finest and most influential bands in the genre emerging from this state. When it comes to melodic death metal Florida is not somewhere that comes to mind despite the fact that one of the finest and most under-appreciated US melodic death metal bands resides there. I am talking about the band The Absence who have been putting out impressive melodic death metal releases since the bands inception in 2002.
The band are about to put out their fifth album Coffinized which sees the band reduced to a four piece (although former guitarist Joey Concepcion does guest on several of the songs on the album). The loss of a band member certainly does not hamper The Absence as Coffinized is the strongest album they have released since their first two albums. The Absence have a sound that takes elements from Gothenburg-style melodic death metal but with a big injection of US thrash resulting in a sound that mixes killer riffs with stunning melodies. The band wastes no time in showcasing this sound with the opening trio of the title track, Future Terminal and Choirs Of Sickness being speedy, aggressive and melodic tunes that demand heads are banged and horns are thrown. The band do mix things up though - Black Providence puts the brakes on and delivers on brooding atmosphere and my personal album highlight Cathedral Dawn slows things right down for the mid section which contains an absolutely sublime guitar solo. Another highlight is This Consuming Nocturne which has an acoustic intro before leading into slick melo-death territory with some absolutely killer guitar work. The album also finishes on a huge high with Faith In Uncreation bringing countless killer riffs, melodies, solos and several layers of catchiness in its 6 minute duration.
Coffinized is a stellar piece of melodic death metal which should hopefully gain the band the exposure they so rightly deserve. This album is proof that excellent melodic death metal doesn’t have to come from Europe and whilst The Absence are influenced and indebted to those pioneering Swedish bands they also have made their own stamp on the genre. The Absence may not do anything pioneering in melodic death metal but they just elevate all the best aspects of the genre into one killer package. An absolutely fantastic listen.
