With the relentless onslaught of must-hear albums spewing out from Metal Blade this year, one would never guess it''s their 25 anniversary...
Okay, all cheekiness aside, let''s get serious and discuss Tampa''s The Absence. Hopefully you''re familiar with these guys from their stellar debut album From Your Grave, but if you''re not, now''s your chance to rectify such a grievous error. You know that dreaded fear of stinking it up on your sophomore album that so many writers like to talk about? In the eighties, it was so topical because a billion heavy metal bands choked after gaining attention on their debut albums, so much that corporate pressure, much less fan pressure, tended to get to them. Well, things are different now and many bands overcome the dreaded sophomore hump. However, not every one of them achieve a veritible upstaging of themselves if they''ve produced a noteworthy debut.
Riders of the Plague is The Absence''s comeuppance, not its coming out. Everything that made From Your Grave one of 2005''s top draws is literally grandstanded on Riders of the Plague. Whereas the previous album was a loving thrash throwback that had equal doses of Testament and Euro death metal, The Absence on round two has expanded their territories in such grand capacity that they can be considered to be thrash and death metal superior with outstanding measures of Euro prog.
The level of songwriting The Absence possesses now is truly remarkable, so much that the title track opening the album has absolute confidence in its upgrade. From there, The Absence marches with assurance on songs like "The Murder," "Echos" and "Awakening" on the strength of Patrick Pintavalle and Peter Joseph''s exploratory guitars that create the ultimate harmony and exquisiteness amidst The Absence''s core brutality. As fast as Jeramie Kling keeps the pace and Jamie Stewart barks in tandem, the rhythm section is up to task with them while expounding rapid-quick strumming and gorgeous solos, hastening only in their relentless pursuit of thrash flawlessness on their titanic instrumental "Prosperity."
Riders of the Plague gets only a half point deduction for tossing in a cover tune in the middle of such commanding brilliance, albeit it is a crushing rendition of Testament''s "Into the Pit." That minor quibble aside, The Absence is nonetheless one of America''s greatest hopefuls from a region that cannot be ignored any longer. Tampa and the southern banks of Florida are red-hot right now...
Rating: ****1/2
--- review taken from
http://rayvanhornjr.blogspot.com/2007/10/cd-rev...rs-of-plague.html ---
