Absvrdist – Illusory
‘Sad-grind hailing from San Antonio’ read the tagline on Absvrdist’s bandcamp, and I readied myself to hate them. Wasted effort on my part, however. Absvrdist have made me a (non?) believer in their brand of existentialist grind.
Now, Illusory‘s first song ‘Repulsive’ didn’t do it for me, and presumably won’t for you, however. It’s title is pretty much in line with what I felt about the aforementioned tagline and the ‘yes, yes…’ feeling I had during it’s by-the-numbers, though solid gang-shouts and grinding. But things start making sense as the album progresses; the ‘black’ in their professed ‘blackened grind’ description slowly rears its head, gurgling in the screeches and Devil’s Notes appearing in the second song forward. Still, with sharpened groove-grind riffs dominating the balance for each appropriately brief song, the Scandinavian influence is overly diminished at first. And while the audio quest is by no means boring, the only- teased-at BM delays the potential potency of this band until mid-album… when ‘Amongst Humans’ begins. Finally, the airy black metal chords fill the air and give the record the darkness it has heretofore only promised. Title-track ‘Illusory’ follows, and Satan fucking appears in a wonderful tri-tone half-time arrangement, and remains with you for the bittersweet brevity of the song’s dying moments. Continuing unabated, the rest of the album spews grind and Scandinavian dissonance in equal measure, fulfilling the prophecy of its portrayal. I can’t tell you how glad I am that I pushed my way through the first half of the record. If you have love of grinding relentlessness and BM woefulness, you will find this and be the better off for it. The closer the album comes to an end the more involving it becomes, with the evil sliding down the walls during instrumental ‘Brood’ before careening headlong into ‘Abstract Absurdities’, a (yep) sad grind throat-crusher with creepy samples and slithering Vikernes riffs slicing their way into your skull. Play this record backward from the last track forward, stop about midway through, and yes, damn it, you’ve found a blackened grind album. They’ll be polished and ready when album number two unleashes, and you can trust I will have it. If you’re into black metal and grindcore melded together, you will too. -Jim
Unsigned
Worm Gear 