THE ABSENCE FUCKING RULE; YA HEAR?
Tuesday, October 21st, 2008 at 3:29pm by Vince Neilstein
As my good friend Axl noted this past May, The Absence are one hell of a fucking good metal band. I’ve been highly digging on their Spring release Riders of the Plague but perhaps I haven’t written about them here enough, so let me just put it bluntly: THIS BAND FUCKING RULES AND YOU OUGHT TO PAY ATTENTION.
Even if you like what you hear from any band you’re introduced to, sometimes you don’t truly “get” them until you see them play live. Such was the case last night when I saw the Absence open up a four-band bill in support of Amon Amarth at New York City’s Irving Plaza. Yo… That shit was hot. The Absence completely slayed, and the 200 or so kids who arrived early seemed to agree.
So what is it about The Absence? Of any (relatively) new band I’ve heard this year, The Absence come closest to what I’d just describe as plain “metal,” hold the sub-genres please, for whatever that word means in the year 2008. Four of the five members have ferocious beards (including guitarist and occasional MetalSucks commenter Patrick Pintaville) and all of them long hair, but this is not beard-metal or hair metal. The Absence shred, but by no means are they shred wankers. There’s plenty of both European and thrash influence here, but in no way would I categorize The Absence as either Euro-metal, thrash or even melodic death metal / Swedecore. So what does that leave? The Absence are just 5 insanely talented dirty metal-dudes playing ferocious metal; and that’s it.
Check out a few tracks on their MySpace page pronto if you know what’s right for you.
-VN
Heck yea!!! The Absence own! Looks like the vocalist trimmed his unruly beard a bit too close though. Anyway, Their frist record was pretty european melodicaly (of the swedish variety) influenced if you ask me, which you didn’t, and riders of the plague just owned!!!
i agree
I was talking to the bassist at last night’s show. They are really chill guys and put on a great show.
These guys are cut from pure win.
I’d describe them as Black Dahlia Murder meets Darkest Hour, with some God Forbid thrown in for good measure.
prosperity is one of the sickest instrumentals
Riders of the Plague actually came out last year.But they were the only reason I regret not having cash to check out that show last night.I love that you guys have pointed them out.I’ve been digging them since I first heard Music Choice playing Necropolis back in 05.This band is killer and it’s a shame that not enough people know about them.Glad you agree that they slay.
Hmm . . . I saw them in San Francisco a few weeks ago and I thought they were generic and shitty. The singer was half-assedly headbanging to the wrong beat and the best part of their set was when they closed with Testament’s Into the Pit.
This sounds exactly like Testament’s The Gathering. Fortunately for them that was Testament’s best album. Not entirely surprising considering the Testament shirts I see band members wear. I guess if you thought the Gathering was the shit, you’ll love the Absence.
erock Says: “Hmm . . . I saw them in San Francisco a few weeks ago and I thought they were generic and shitty.”
Ding ding! We have a winner.
“they all have long hair”…is this supposed to be a trick or something?
I clicked on their myspace after reading this article. I was hit with pure win instantly. These guys do FUCKING ROCK!!!
chilled w them at the montreal show last thursday
my firend got the form your grave tour shirt
the last one!
lol
the vocalist
is THE chillest guy in thw world
hands down
Didn’t they get a new drummer recently?
Thanks alot for writing about us. We appreciate it a whole hell of alot. I just wish you guys were at any other show than that one. That particular show was advertised for 7:00pm but they started it at 6:00 for some reason. The tour was great and we were playing in front of 750-1000 people every night. The shows were insane and the fans were awesome. The NYC was the worst one because of the poor scheduling. I had many people coming up to me after the show and asking why we played so early. I saw the flyers they had that said doors at 7:00. That pissed me off but theres nothing you can do about it. That’s show buiz I guess. I am glad you guys were there and once again I appreciate the write up.
-Cheers!
awesome band. never seen them live but that day will come soon. i am from europe and we have Legion of the damned (www.legionofthedamned.net) and Murder Manifest (www.murdermanifest.com) for the time beeing but cannot wait to see them here..!!
[...] The Absence, who are quickly becoming one my favorite new American metal bands, have released a new video for the song “Dead and Gone” from their excellent 2007 release Riders of the Plague. The video showcases just how hard the band rips live, as I found out last month when I saw them open for Amon Amarth. [...]