In Absence

For more high-energy thrash with tons of technical overtones, Cathartic Demise has you covered with their debut full length release. For all intents and purposes, it’s like if Revocation or Destroyers of All wrote longer songs, but put together some truly kinetic, dynamic melodies that keep them thoroughly engaging throughout while also being rather catchy. It’s something that they did in the self-titled EP, and In Absence simply expands on that by having more songs do their thing. Their thing, of course, being deliciously over the top music that thrashes and bashes with surgical precision.

Even from the get-go, we’re in for a real fuckin’ treat! “For Power” is a right thrashorama, with all kinds of riffs going into it that deliver with enough energy for Goku to finally finish off Kid Buu. On its face, it shouldn’t be so ridiculously catchy with its escalating chorus, its hooky verse riffs and how every section works fantastically with one another. Yet here we are. Taylor still shreds like a motherfucker. Bennett’s a rhythmic genius with both his riffs and his vocals, blending hoarse aggression with striking melodicism that makes the songs invariably memorable. Like in their self-titled EP, there’s this real patience to their songwriting that lets the various melodies breathe while expertly transitioning to the next one, and it’s great that they’ve maintained it here too.

The whole album is like this, albeit in different ways. “Blade in the Dark” opts for a more technical note flurry with even the bass joining in the act with its own manic routine. “Silence Within” and “Disparity” are far more explosive in their delivery, bordering on some death metal shit. “Pale Imitation” takes a page out of “Solar Returning”’s book in being a massive, multifaceted track with all kinds of dynamics at play. It’s a band knowing exactly how to make every second count as everything builds upon itself in an expert manner. You’d think it’d get tiresome after a while – not only is every song at least six minutes long, but the album’s nearly an hour long, and it’s pretty much just all thrashing all day long – but given their keen sense of melodicism and how they space it all out, they manage to make effective use of just about every single second. It’s consistently busy, but not consistently bombastic, if that makes sense. They tone it down here and there, they make use of not-so manic intros and bridges, and they save the money shots for the chorus and the solos – maybe the outro too, as they do in “Disparity” with the urgent performances. Because of this, the album remains consistently engaging throughout.

Probably the only flaw is that “Waves” doesn’t have the best start in the world. I get that they’re building up to the riff onslaught that it becomes, but it does so in a relatively droning way. Not just the vocals, but even the riffs underneath just kind of noodle around, not really doing anything of any worth. This is something they can buff out in the next album, though, so no real biggie. Hell, they even kinda do that with the following song. I mean, I’d almost say the same for “Desire”, but its more melancholic build-up – the sort of heavier acoustic guitar and the solo – serves as an on-point contrast to the overly energetic thrashing.

But yeah, In Absence is an absolute beast of an album with a righteous fury, backed up by some truly rich melodicism. It’s able to take what would theoretically work best in a shorter setting and make it work wondrously with its longer length. I’m absolutely looking forward to seeing how their career will progress from here because there’s definitely a strong future for this band.