Hamilton, Ontario’s ABSORB bashed out two respectable full-lengths between 2015 and 2018, then poof (or puff?)! Like ‘The Smokeman’ himself, the band were in the mists until last year’s stench-ridden return by way of the EP. And now, just over a year later, the Smog be upon us…
What shouldn’t also escape notice here is the sense of Confessionalism found in the lyrics of the band, especially prevalent in “I still think it’s 2020 / I never really dream / Circling the drain / I’m moulting – alone / On a dog day afternoon in the middle of summer / It’s a beautiful life and I’m thinking about the end” from opener ‘Dissociated’. Musically, it’s abrasion from the start, sheer and shrieking guitars roiling over depths of doom and noise, vocals breaking against utter cliffs of rhythm. Not for the squeamish, to be sure, are Thorkildsen’s vocals – and with a last name like that, they’d damn well better invoke some since of power. More of the hardcore school, but a refreshing change from either the guttural or melancholy we’re used to in this style.
The title track stagger-stomps forward, confident yet ready to damage all, including self, to color this blackened, boiling world in which ABSORB dwells. The work of the Luckel/Barthe rhythm section creates a Jones/Bonham vibe, the swing of ‘Fool In The Rain’, but dejected to the point of rage.
Sloughing to its miry end with ‘Cecilia’, (the other) Luckel and Eckmeier swirl and riff in equal measure, wandering off on tangents, but always to serve the song, and that’s what doom is about, after all. Experimentation within a framework. Certain things that are called “doom” are not. ABSORB is, and by virtue of the fact, is Smog. Sludge-ridden, literate, and lashing.
Hang tight for the bit at 4:46 – and you might want to position yourself on the toilet beforehand – because it’s positively bowel-shifting.
Review By: Lord Randall
ABSORB
Smog [EP]
Hypaethral Records