“An uncompromising death metal record, a crushing swansong for the failing capitalist system” – this is our introduction to this fourth album release by Absence of the Sacred. It’s been a while since the last one: “Come Hither O Herald of Death” came out in 2012 and served as a vigorous technical death-thrash warm-up prior to me taking in the latest work. With band members currently or previously from Impiety, Wormrot, Dying Fetus, Ne Obliviscaris, Benighted and Nightmare A.D., this is a band with plenty of firepower behind it.

The intro and outro of “IV: The Hand that Wounds” are supplied by Microchip Terror, known for “electronic body horror music”. I like this. It sets the scene although the transition to “Die Hand die Verletzt” (The Hand that Wounds) is clumsy as is often the case between intros and the core album. “Die Hand die Verletzt” itself is engaging, death metal at its core but with technical vibrancy transforming into a haunting sinister chant, no doubt to remind us of the album’s sinister theme. “Zealot” heads off at pace. The instrumentalists carve out grooves. Both the drummer and guitarists purvey technical excellence while attacking us with this lively death metal. If the theme is grim, the music isn’t so much at this point even if the overall effect is like being attacked by a chainsaw. Next is “Radioactive Ghosts of Fukushima”. It is again impressive for its intensity and structure. Pounding death metal is at the core of course. The sinister aggression is reinforced when the tempo eases and a spoken section cuts in before the track returns to uncompromising brutality. We’re talking about a radioactive disaster here. The song does justice to the darkness of the theme.

I revelled in the hardness of the drumming and meandering, chunky and defiant expression of the guitar work of “Darwinian Mechanics”, or at least I was until it ended – while I appreciate no time being wasted, this was like the synopsis and I was disappointed that it ended so quickly. Still, I had “Quantum Locked in a Personal Hell” to look forward to next. The personal hell is more than adequately represented by the death vocals and deep eviscerating instrumental sound. Once more the composition makes us stop and pay attention as it launches into a flamboyant guitar passage and spoken section before bombing us with a final dose of thumping, authoritative death metal. The internal power and force launch us into the full-on “All-Consuming Matrix”. Hard and imperious as ever, it is well constructed as brief tension-inducing tempo are interspersed with yet more invigorating, chugging rounds of punishment, culminating in colourful guitar work. All that remains is a final desolate piece from Microchip Terror which this time is not clumsy but serves as a reminder that however much enjoyment we may have had from the music, there is a serious theme behind it all.

“IV: The Hand that Wounds” is a mature work from Absence of the Sacred. I confess that I am not always a fan of death metal in its purest form, but whilst this album clearly belongs to that genre, Mia Priest and her collaborators have pulled together a series of songs where death metal reigns and indeed is appropriate to the dark theme, but technical and tempo twists are introduced which reinforced the power and raised my excitement level. There is no doubt that the band’s experience has led to such mature structures and compositions without falling into the trap of being clinical or losing the dark intensity. This is a very good, albeit short album where paradoxically or perhaps perversely I found myself enjoying listening to songs about the radioactive ghosts of Fukashima. It certainly made an impact on me and that’s a good thing to say about any album.

(8.5/10 Andrew Doherty)

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