This is a collection of my Instagram writeups on the individual albums of Black/Thrash band Absu's discography. I added annotations where needed. The albums are in chronological order.
#1: Absu - Barathrum V.I.T.R.I.O.L.
Genre: Death Metal
Label: Osmose Productions
Year: 1994
After my Satyricon run [Note: Will be published on a later date], I was eager to check out more black metal, but I didn´t choose as blindly as I did with Satyricon. I haven´t talked about it much, but Melechesh is actually not only probably my favorite Black Metal band, but one of my favorite acts period. The fusion of raging black thrash with middle eastern folk does rarely disappoint. I always knew that Absu and Melechesh held a deep friendship in the past and that Proscriptor used to drum for Melechesh on occasion. I think it is only fair to give Absu a fair chance. Combine this with the fact that it is a discography that can actually be finished, since the band broke up after a highly problematic incident, which makes it all just a little bit more intriguing to me - a certain dissonance between a horrible musicians personal traits and hopefully some good music.
Funnily enough, for a band that is famous for being one of the early adopters of the black metal style in the US, this really isn´t a black metal albums. Yes, like many early Black Metal band, Absu played Death Metal on their debut. Sadly, I find that Absu seem way more competent in the black metal realm than they do Death Metal. Why nothing on this album is that disagreeable to me, we do have heard it a million times and, safe to say, we heard it much better. It is not that Absu aren´t trying, though, in fact they may be trying a little too hard. Absu shove a lot of stuff into this album next to the death metal: A superfluous synth intro, orchestral vocals and a sophisticated lyrical concept. Even some early flourishes of Black metal make it in. In the end, we get a slightly blackened Incantation clone, but without the Swampy murk that makes material like this work. Luckily, I know at least one Absu album that slaps later on...let us hope it is not the only one.
Rating: 5/10. [Note: Venture in the Instagram comments for this run to see what Absu fans are apparently like.]
#2: Absu - The Sun of Tiphareth
Genre: Black Metal / Thrash Metal / Folk metal
Label: Osmose Productions
Year: 1995
After the well intended but ultimately rather bland debut record by the band, Absu made a stylistic shift. This album sits firmly in the black metal camp. Absu pioneered a sound on this album that would later be (in my humble opinion) be perfected by themselves and to an even higher degree, Melechesh, whom they have close ties with. The material is crazy fast and, especially for a black metal band from the time, very tight and aggressive. The stylistic experiments with folky instrumentation, female clean vocals and odd synths are still present and, isolated from the rest, have not changed much. It is the context that makes them work better as black metal just lends itself better to this type of melodicism and timbres.
Considering the writing of the album, I would probably rate this album higher than I will do on here. What keeps me from giving it a higher score however is the production which in some moments lacks heft. The mixing here seems to be an issue: The guitars are pretty fuzzy and (both on my studio monitors as on my headphones) are overpowered by the bass, the drums and the vocals. A lot of the additional instrumentation also sounds dingy. The liner notes suggests a real flute was used, but it is safe to say that Proscriptor could not have made a career out of his flute playing as it is on display here. These production issues rob the album of just enough heft to substract a point in my rating. Still, Absu deliver an above average outing in a time when black metal was still not fully formed as it is today. If you are attached to the very classic black metal tone, then maybe add a point to my rating.
Rating: 6/10.
#3: Absu - The Third Storm of Cythraul
Genre: Melodic Black Metal / Blackened Thrash
Label: Osmose Productions
Year: 1997
'The Third Storm of Cythrául' is the second part of the celtic trilogy that absu did. On this album, I feel Absu completely focus on their strengths for the first time. The writing is more frenetic and very thrash infused, but at the same time manages to be very melodic. The melodies are particularly infused with that celtic spirit (lots of Mixolydian on here) and retain some of that mysticism even when the guitars go full on thrash attack. The heightened pace benefits the band, as they are best when thrashing melodically. The vocals are a bit more shrill here, which again highlights the frenetic feeling that the music has. The album is enjoyably trim and resists the urge to go into random interludes or underdeveloped neoclassicakl sections as many of their contemporaries would.
There is little to criticize Absu for on this album and most of it can only be criticized in comparison to what Absu (or even Melechesh) would do later. The melodies here are strong, but it is no 'Tara' and the melodic thrashing doesn´t quite compare to what Melechesh would later do on 'Djinn' or 'Emmissaries'. But it is undeniable that the record must have been an inspiration to many later acts. 'The Third Storm of Cythraul' is the first album that really makes me understand why Absu are so important for US Black Metal.
Rating: 7/10
#4: Absu - Tara
Genre: Black / Thrash Metal
Label: Osmose Productions
Year: 2008
I hinted in the beginning of this run that I knew of one album in Absus Discography that I would like for sure. This album is 2008´s 'Tara'. Having gone through their discography up to this point I can say that Absu had been chasing similar ideas like those present on 'Tara' from the very beginning of their careeer (excluding the humble Death Metal beginnings). 'Tara' opens and ends with bagpipes, but shows a lot of restraint with the rest of the album. Present is the rabid Black Thrash attack, honed to be as aggressive as possible. This is a fast album and Absu manage to stay tight at all moments. The drumming of the album is remarkable, as it is surpsingly free form and never just mindlessly blasts for a whole song. Procriptor is a fine drummer and always thinks of creative ways to stay locked in and support the band.
There is not a lot to criticize on 'Tara'. For one, I think absu could have maybe done without interlude "Yrp LLuyddawc", as it slightly interrupts the pace in a way that I don´t find beneficial. Ihas a few odd decisions, like including a "Raining Blood" type opening to fourth song 'Manannan' that, again, takes the momentum out of it a bit. Still, Absu just thrash so hard on here that it is easy to forgive. There are just so many riffs, so much forward momentum to the drums that the album is barely hurt by any of its weaknesses. 'Tara' is, so far at least, Absus best album. The next couple will show if it can be beaten - if only they weren´t named so confusingly...
Rating: 8/10
#5: Absu - Absu
Genre: Black / Thrash Metal
Label: Candlelight records
Year: 2009
[Note: This entry was written after a break of a couple weeks.]
Yes people, I am back to what strangely became my most controversial discography run to date. Who would have thought that fans of a [redacted] could be so [redacted]? Anyway, I frankly just wasn´t in the mood for thrash in a while and I already knew that Absus masterpiece effort 'Tara' would likely not be beaten. Concerning further drama and name changes that happened down the line, I would guess this is where the discography slowly becomes a little more hard to mentally reconcile with. None of this informs the material, of course, but I still can´t help but be a little distracted while listening.
Still, we ought to finish this thing and move on to other ventures. 'Absu', sadly, falls in the trend of self-titled albums not living up to their name. While 'Absu' does somewhat sound like a distillment of Absus sound in that it features the bare sound of the band without much additional flavors (a pure distillment, if I were to put it more favorably), it doesn´t quite have the same meticulous sense of flow that the bands best albums have. A lot of the album is sadly a bit of a riff salad, with many interesting riffs that don´t quite fit together to a whole that is bigger than its parts. Songs could - if the artist wanted them to - be stitched together for longer songs or be cut down to smaller chunks without losing much of the impact and I feel the album is a bit overlong for what it is, anyway. You just had to get the big salad and you didn´t even bother to get dressing, huh?
Final Score: 6/10.
#6: Absu - Abzu
Genre: Black / Thrash Metal
Label: Candlelight records
Year: 2011
The last album before Absu took a longer break (as far as I know not entirely caused by the drama; not even most of it to be honest), I personally prefer 'Abzu' to 'Absu' greatly (even if I abhor the naming scheme of those albums with a passion). 'Abzu' is very much an album of two sides with the first side consisting of 5 tracks that stand on their own. Absu thrashes good on this album and regain their sense of flow, and those 5 tracks are proof of that: Never do they let down or pull the brakes and Proscriptors active and forward thinking drumming is back to being very strong. Song 6, 'Song for EA Medley', is a suite that is almost as long as the 5 tracks before it. I do enjoy how the band makes an effort to connect these songs, even if they seem to abandon the idea halfway through the medley and actually have a pause.
Concerning the writing, 'Abzu' is even tighter than 'Tara', yet I can not say that it is better. 'Tara' is an album that consists of many surprises and odd choices, that I would technically consider to be wrong choices but that still work. 'Tara' just has that intuitive character, a lightning in a bottle situation where it shouldn´t quite work as well as it does. 'Abzu', in comparison, feels somewhat calculated. It shows a band that grew and honed their chops but that maybe lost just a little bit of that fiery intuitive vigor they had before. Many bands only find the sweet spot between both once and I think for Absu, that moment was certainly 'Tara'. Still, if all Absu albums had the quality of 'Abzu', I would not complain.
Rating: 7/10.
#7: Proscriptor McGovern´s Apsû - s/t
Genre: Black / Thrash
Label: Agonia Records
Year: 2021
Absu is back boys and while I´d really like to make the distinction between the band pre-lineup shuffle and this entity of the band, goddammit I am not spelling that name out more than once. You really got me with that circumflex, Proscriptor. Well done. Anyway, the drama around Absu should be well known at this point and this is the first album they did after the whole incident. I was hesitant to check it out, because this album is at least informed by an intense switch in lineup and it felt harder than ever to not think about the whole incident.
Musically, the band tries to finalize the trilogy of self-titled albums that had begun with a different guitarists. In many ways, the band seems to signal to me that this isn´t just the same, basically, but better! Still, and this might just be me having some prejudice about the record, it very much feels like a band that tries to emulate their own style, for better or for worse. The things that I liked about 'Abzu' and what made it, in my eyes, a very lean and functioning record, are not as much on display here. Rathere it is more in line with the opener of the trilogy, 'Absu'. I find similar issues in it and, while it certainly is an above average Thrash record, it is not much more than that.
Rating: 6/10.
Conclusion
Absu´s discography turned out to be slightly disappointing. It takes the band a long time to find what works for them and how to do the things they have to do to make their unique style work, and when they finally hit their stride with 'Tara', they seem to drop the ball again pretty quickly. Why this is, I do not know - the drama involving bandmates of Proscriptor came later - and I also don´t have much of an interest to speculate. In the end, I probably will not revisit Absu much. Obviously excluding 'Tara' and maybe 'The Third Storm of Cythraul' or 'Abzu'.
Final Album Ranking
Tara
The Third Storm of Cythraul
Abzu
The Sun of Tiphareth
Proscriptor Mc Governs Apsû
Absu
Barathrum V.I.T.R.I.O.L.
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