Like most young guys figuring out who they are musically, the first albums I owned would have been predominantly hard rock and heavy metal, many on permanent loan from my brother in the next bedroom, whether he was aware if it or not. But as I developed my own tastes, it was the post-punk world forming around me that became my sonic playground, that heady explosion of newly invented genres made possible by punk’s barricade storming of only a few years before. (Yes, I’m that old!)
Absinthe Vows have constantly reminded me of those times, not because they sound like any one band, but they would have found a welcome home in those creative times and shifting scenes. No, it isn’t one specific sound that sparks through their music; it is more that they have done the only logical thing any modern band can do: mix and match and meld their own unique sound from those past sonic strands and musical influences.
And so, we find “Death Mask” to be a glorious sonic design, a blend of gnashing and gnarly industrial edges and brooding gothic backbeats, raw and powerful, metalesque vocals, part sung, part growled, part screamed. They throw in some blistering alt-rock guitars and a groove that sounds like a midnight rave in a car plant still at its task, neat blends of digital deftness and analog artisrty, and after bringing that all together for two and a bit minutes, they are out of there. Done!
A short, sharp, and shockingly effective blast of beautiful and brutal music.
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