Upon first look, there doesn’t seem to be anything special
about Absvrdist. But once you notice that Lyle Cooper, the legendary drummer
for technical death band The Faceless is the drummer for Absvrdist, it
completely changes the story. A problem that a lot of people have with
grindcore in general is monotony, often times appearing in the drums. Either
that or a complete lack of skill in one or more of the musicians. Whether this
is just a simple side-project or the next big grindcore act in the making
remains unknown due to minimal publicity and the rigorous tour schedule The
Faceless has endured since the band released their newest album, Autotheism.
Regardless, Absvrdist have given us a unique and creative grindcore treat
titled Illusory, which is something that can be deceptive or misleading
(therefore causing “illusion”).
Absvrdist seems to be very keen on calling themselves “blackened
grindcore.” Being the black metal enthusiast that I am, that seems like a
pretty interesting concept considering that, as far as I’m aware of, it’s never
been done before (no, Anaal Nathrakh doesn’t count). Because the duet has been
so outspoken about this “blackened grindcore” thing, it’s mentioned in almost
every review that has been written on the album. Here’s the issue that people
are having: yeah, the album is great, but what was that about “blackened” you
said? Because I can’t hear any signs of black metal on this album! Ok, maybe
that was an exaggeration, but you get the picture. There are obvious efforts at
fusing black metal and grindcore during the album. For example, the track Amongst
Humans has an atmospheric guitar lead that sounds like something from a black
metal album along with low-key black metal-ish blast beat drumming. The guitar
line strongly reminds me of Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog by Wolves in the
Throne Room, which is probably (I’ll never know for sure) the song that
inspired that particular intro. Besides that, the number of black metal-inspired
moments is low.
So, because Absvrdist most likely over exaggerated the true
amount of black metal influence this album has, I’m going to treat this just
like any other grindcore record. The two members of Absvrdist have played
together before in a Texas-based progressive death band called Erzebet,
releasing a 5-track EP in 2005. The member responsible for the lead vocals on
Illusory is unclear, as are a lot of things about this band. But whoever does
the lead vocals (consisting of growls and nasty screams) is good. The screams
sound similar to several thrash black bands I’ve heard, sort of having a
thrashy sound to them. Many people find these types of screams much more pleasant
to listen to, as opposed to the really obnoxious (but often times appropriate)
high-pitched shrieks you hear in bands like Wormrot, Gridlink, and the earlier
Pig Destroyer albums. The growls aren’t anything SUPER unique, but they fit in
well with the surrounding chaos the music creates.
Along with that, there are occasional inhaled grows and very
strained yells that, although unattractive, fit in well with the music in the
same way the growls do. A good song that demonstrates the contrast between all
of the different vocal styles used would be the first track, Repulsive. But the
vocals aren’t where all the action is at.
The drums are where 60% of the interesting shit is. Of
course, knowing the drummer and his skills as well as I do, I’m not surprised.
But the question gets brought up, why grindcore? It’s not anything new that
Lyle can play fast, as demonstrated on Planetary Duality and Autotheism. It
makes sense that since he’s the type of guy that likes brutal music, he
probably needed an escape from all of the progressive and much slower stuff The
Faceless has done on Autotheism. So yeah, he probably had a lot of energy for
playing fast and chaotic that needed to be released, so him and his friend from
Erzebet. But honestly, there’s no telling as to why this grindcore project just
popped up out of nowhere. But the whole black metal/grindcore thing makes sense
because besides The Faceless, Lyle has been in both a black metal band AND
Erzebet, which plays an interesting combination of grindcore, black metal, and
death metal.
The drumming sounds like the drumming from The Faceless. This
is good because it’s more than just constant blast beats! As much as I love
blast beats, they can get old and boring VERY quickly. The drumming is filled
with color, creativity, chaos, and experimentation. If it weren’t for the
excessive use of the cymbals, it would be difficult to tell that the drums
belonged to a grindcore record. Because the drums are interesting by
themselves, everything else acts as icing on the cake. Now we move on to member
number two, who is responsible for vocals, guitars, and bass.
The bass tends to hang out in the lower end the whole time.
There isn’t a whole lot of action going on with the higher strings and playing
chords. This seems to be a fairly common thing in grindcore because the guitars
tend to be high-pitched (for some reason) and it helps bring out the low-end if
the bassist generally plays only lower notes. The bass has a tiny bit of
distortion to give it a gritty sound that can be heard on its own in the ninth
track, Delusion. The guitars have a fuzzy distortion that blends in perfectly
with the sound of the cymbals. There isn’t exactly anything about the guitars
(or bass) that I would consider to be special or unique except for one thing. The
instruments on Illusory couldn’t be any tighter. The unfortunate thing about
grindcore is that, in most cases, one or more of the musicians repeatedly falls
out of tempo or screws up in some way. In Absvrdist, it’s the exact opposite;
these two guys are true musicians that know what the fuck they’re doing.
Obviously, Lyle’s drumming is on-the-spot 100% of the time, and Marlon has
proved himself to be a great guitarist and bassist that has both skill and
creativity.
Absvrdist is one of the best grindcore bands I’ve heard in
months. In fact, one of the best grindcore bands I’ve EVER heard. Although I feel
that their “blackened grindcore” description is an overstatement, there are a
couple of black metal-inspired sections on the record. Illusory has everything
a grindcore enthusiast could ask for: blast beats, obnoxious yells, ridiculous
tempos, and less than half of the songs lasting more than two minutes (several
tracks being less than 30 seconds). Illusory also has things in store for the
people who AREN’T too big on grindcore, including tight musicianship,
instrumental skills, influences from other bands and genres, much more than
constant blast beats, and a shitload of creativity and experimentation.
Illusory gets my score of 14/20.
