Absorb - Smog

Absorb is a death/doom metal band from Canada, who formed in 2013.  Their latest release is their second EP “Smog” but they have also released two full-length albums over the years.

With three tracks and a runtime of nearly 25 minutes, it’s a decent amount of music for an EP.  Doom, and anything under its myriad umbrella, is my favorite genre so I can be quite picky.  However, Absorb’s latest EP is right up my alley.    

The production is stark and deep—I review music with a decent pair of headphones and each song sounded like it was sending me further down to the next level of hell.  Musically, it’s slow, low, and exemplifies what one would expect from a death/doom band.  However, the songs are very much structure and riff based—it’s atmospheric of course but the EP builds an actual meaty body structure instead of relying on long drawn out liminal spaces or ambient textures.

Erik’s vocals are abrasive, offering up growls and screams for a performance that fits in perfectly with the music.  Jeff and David’s guitars actually feel like two people playing, their notes are just so robust and dense.  Much of the same can be said for Jay’s bass—absolutely monstrous with one hell of a low end.  It takes a damn good drummer to make slower paced music slow—-make no mistake, Aaron is fully capable of handling that role. 

“Disassociated,” is the first song, offering a great overview of the band and EP’s overall sound.  It begins with a noisy intro that quickly gives way to the shadows.  The bass hangs over the atmosphere, using those shadows as tendrils to wrap around the air itself.  The riffs and drums are both taking it slow but ultra heavy—seriously, these might be the heaviest sounds in the universe right now. 

I enjoy the higher, pitched blackened vocals because they grasp the essence of the song with their visceral approach.  A lot of people don’t realize how extreme doom can get but if they need a reminder then I highly suggest this song.  As the song speeds up slightly, groove slams like concrete winds.  

The title song starts more immediate with a massive groove that crushes like a glacier.  The riffs grow more expansive as the song goes about his slow crush. The middle part is deep as a well, I almost felt lost in its ocean of drowning despair.  The tempo picks up afterwards, an introspective fury with more energy than a lot of doom bands can muster.  The songs ends more harrowing than I thought it would, more than a little unnerving.

The final song, “Cecilia,” opens with bass that would probably register at least an 8 on the richter scale.  This is my favorite of the three; the vocals have a little bit of an echo with them, adding a surprisingly horrific and ghostly tone to the song’s atmosphere.  The violence increases as the song rises towards a towering crest of pounding drums, crushing tone, an unending waves of doom after doom.  Near the end, clean vocals, more like a shout, appear and they fit in quite well.

Absorb’s “Smog” EP is a mini-epic that hits all the right notes on what I look for in doom metal, especially the extreme side of it.  Highly recommended.