Abscession
Grave Offerings

Swedish death metal with lyrical themes centred around anti-christianity, darkness and death which is something most death metal bands seem obsessed with, seems a bit cliché to do those things for a death metal band. But I guess cliché and predictability is something bands of this genre need. They do have a very nice cover artwork and Mattias Frisk who made it should be commended for his ability to make interesting artwork out of something that isn’t prone to be beautiful. Well done to him, and to the band who selected that guy as their cover artist. Their offerings are grave, engorged in gore they end with a downfall that could possibly continue at a later time.

Their musical offerings are grave as well, grave as in serious. Their traditional death metal has some traces of modernity like a clean and powerful production but to all intents and purposes it is a typical traditional death metal album, even the lyrical themes are typical of the genre. What a cliché. The singer is typical of the genre, neither better nor worse than the average genre singer. The production is somewhat more interesting than most and they do have some metalcore ideas and such things that could appeal to a wider audience but these are few and the overall idea is not of that. The variation is not big either, that is another thing that is a bit of a bother and the 44 minute playing time feel very much on the long side to me and the ten tracks float together into one unit that lacks dynamics.

I think this is an album for the one already deeply fanatical about the death metal genre, for me that am not that much into it, more into the Gothenburg style of the genre as well, it just doesn’t work. It never grabs me while I am listening and in the end I think it passes by without leaving any lasting impression. So if you are a convinced death metal fanatic, by all means go grab this album but if you are like me, with just a surface interest it is not really something to bother with as you will turn bored before you even manage to get half way through the album. I am not saying that it is a bad album, it is not, and it is just one that passes by without me noticing and when it ends the next album feels more appealing than what I have just heard. Abscession is not without merit but they do not have enough of that merit to really appeal to me.

There are little things that I like, like some riffs and melodies but there is no song that stands out to me, not even a big enough part to stand out for me. That is too bad but life goes on and the death metal fans will think this is relevant no matter what I say and if you are a fan of said genre you should check it out. In the end I think that this is an album that is average at best, neither good nor bad and I almost manage to stay awake for the entire album. The cover art is great though.

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