Language is a strange thing. In the world of doom metal and sludge, words like festering, rotting and disgusting flip their meaning. This is doubly true when discussing Absent In Body’s debut album, ‘Plague God’. It’s good that a record sounds like picking through the ashes of a ruined world.
Owing their existence to a one-off collaboration, Absent In Body aren’t so much a band as Frankenstein’s monster, bolted together from the genre’s darkest creators; Amenra guitarist Mathieu J. Vandekerckhove, vocalist/bassist Colin H. Van Eeckhout, Neurosis man Scott Kelly and finally Igor Cavelera. The phrase ‘supergroup’ comes to mind but that sounds too heroic for the dark imposing music they create. Pretensions aside, words like collective or cult might fit better, possibly Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Given these roots, you’ll have a reasonable idea of what to expect from the album – a blend of post-metal and doom with Sepultura’s former drummer adding an intriguing spine. Interestingly, there’s also a side order of industrial electronics which add a rumbling layer of filth. The whole appeal of such collaborations is possibilities like these, the artists pushing their comfort zone to make something different and inspired. This results in a dark and fascinating record with plenty of appeal to their established audiences but it’s also something more – and that’s its real selling point.
For the most part, the five songs making up ‘Plague God’ do feel like something different. This is most notable on ‘In Spirit In Spite’ which is so atmospheric you could easily imagine it soundtracking a bombed out factory beneath a burning sky – ugly industrial noises churning through the opening riff sound like old machines stamping out metallic parts. It’s intensely foreboding, especially during the middle section where a thudding rhythm track rumbles through your bowels while guitars eerily tease and haunt. Yet the song still surprises as all this tension bleeds away, it’s a strange but ultimately worthwhile choice.
The album’s most unusual offering is ‘The Acres/The Ache’ where its structure completely shifts gears at around the halfway point, abandoning its oppressive opening for a lofty guitar part and ethereal vocals. It’s a slightly clunky transition but not an unwelcome one, and its gentleness certainly makes the album seem more expansive. In contrast, ‘Sarin’ uses big slashes of distorted guitar and its persistent roaring vocal feels like an oncoming tsunami, it’s what you’d expect the band to be doing, and that’s no bad thing. It’s intense, ugly and deep, feeling like five minutes of having your soul scoured. Although presented in a different way, closing track, ‘The Half Rising Man’, uses a buzzing, throbbing bass sound to achieve a similar effect. It ebbs and flows like all the songs here and needs to be played loud to feel the effect, but its slow persistence makes it the ideal closer, leaving you utterly crushed.
For the most part, Van Eeckhout barks like the hounds of hell, offering deep and harsh growls, but there are moments of contrast. He really stretches his vocal chords with the screeches on ‘Rise From Ruins’, which are absolutely fitting for a record about isolation and when he switches to faster spitting on ‘Sarin’ it is breathlessly intense. A section of ‘In Spirit In Spite’ is markedly different, offering a gentle spoken word section which is horribly unsettling. Lyrically, he explores connections in a world made of increasingly fractured groups and this in itself gives the songs a modern feel and a stark intelligence.
Among his established doom metal bandmates, thrash icon Igor Cavelera might seem like the odd one out but the drummer’s presence really adds to the album’s overall feel. The tribal-infused rhythms that open ‘Rise From Ruins’ and ‘The Acres/The Ache’ have his style all over them and, more than just making his contribution apparent, give the songs character.
Recorded at Amenra bassist Tim De Gieter’s studio, the project has a real in-house approach, but at the same time has a fresh spirit. It’s also a little frustrating, not because of what it is, but because it doesn’t quite satisfy. The groundwork is there, the songs are good, but it isn’t quite enough. While getting together in Belgium to record is part of the band’s raison d’etre, this is probably its limiting factor. The whole thirty-seven minutes rumbles past quickly with every song lasting between five and eight minutes, all are long enough and never outstay welcome, so it’s not rushed per se, but despite the overall quality and creative highpoints it only feels like a glimpse of what they’re capable of. Perhaps another couple of songs would have achieved their aims, and maybe if they get the chance to make a second record, they can capitalise on what works here, because so much does.
Absent In Body aim to scour the pits of darkness searching for uncomfortable and foreboding truth. ‘Plague God’ is the sound of a nightmarish future, a dark, depressing world and a new band exploring their sound. It’s a worthwhile experiment and while not completely satisfying it makes for a fascinating listen. There’s so much that works you can’t help but hope they reunite and really flesh out these beginnings.
IAN KENWORTHY