Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Absolva
Label: Rocksector Records
Release: 2014
Duration: 52:15
Rating: 4/5
Absolva is a band with an interesting history, short but sweet. They used to be Fury UK. If you caught any of the Iced Earth shows in 2011, like the RockLine crew did in Belgrade (November 2011) and Munich (December 2011), you got to see three fired-up lads on stage, hurling the high-octane fury of gorgeous heavy metal marches at an unsuspecting crowd. Old-school style. The band, whose main figures were Chris (guitar, vocals) and Luke Appleton (bass), called it quits in 2012. On that Iced Earth tour, Luke clearly made a hell of an impression with his playing on the great Jon Schaffer, who invited him after the tour to take over as Iced Earth’s permanent bassist. The guy simply couldn’t turn that down, which also meant the end of Fury UK.
Shortly after Fury UK fell apart, Chris Appleton revived the trio under the name Absolva. They put out their debut studio album »Flames of Justice« still in 2012. A live CD and DVD followed the next year, which is a pretty surprising (and bold) move for newcomers on the scene. Now I’m holding Absolva’s second studio album, which means Chris managed to keep the creative charge of the debut alive. And then some. This past March, Blaze Bayley (ex-Iron Maiden) »borrowed« Absolva as his backing band for a new European tour.
By this point in the review you’ve probably figured out on your own that Absolva are modern heavy metal revivalists. The guitar phrases and all the ornamental guitar harmonies layered over them owe their inspiration to the invasion of NWOBHM bands. A track like Live for the Fight carries a rhythmic gallop very similar to many songs from Blaze Bayley’s Iron Maiden era, or Bayley’s later solo output. This is a trio of excellent musicians who, despite the band’s short life, are well armed with experience and in outstanding form when it comes to executing everything they take on. The riffs and arrangements, the whole approach to the band’s musical vision, don’t bring any kind of creative revolution. But they brush off remarks about stereotypes, or generic-ness if you want the harsher term, with feather-light ease, because they play with everything they’ve got and with incredible heart. What lifts this release to a high level of quality is the excellent production, razor-sharp and mixed to a volume where gentler souls may start bleeding from the ear canals.
Chris Appleton is the band’s first and foremost figure. A man loyal to the sound of the classic Gibson SG, he’s an excellent guitarist. He knows how to lay down a riff and knead out perfect solos. The songs build their atmosphere gradually, heading for a singalong chorus stamped with hymn-like pomp, where the tracks hit their emotional crescendo. The »mid eight« passages are likewise carefully detailed and keep the songs extremely compact, while also delivering the (required) high-voltage dynamic drama theater (Never Back Down)! Chris Appleton is also a great vocalist. He breezes through even the extremely high vocal sequences, as his outstanding »scream« in the album opener The Devil’s Mouth already shows. The guitar phrases are seasoned with the extraordinary kinetics of the rhythm section. The bass lines ceaselessly »tear« through the sound, while the raging yet finely crafted drums give the songs their destructive edge, led by the venomously rolling torpedo barrage of the double bass pedals.
With the album »Anthems to the Dead«, Absolva join the top tier of the new-wave invasion of heavy metal revival bands that have been popping up like mushrooms after rain over the last few years! »Anthems to the Dead« is an exceptionally varied album, released by a seriously committed and fired-up band that’s full of the urge to prove itself. That’s why the album bursts at the seams with surplus adrenaline rush and high-octane eruptions of massive riffage, taking its cue from the achievements of the old NWOBHM school, carefully repackaged in outstanding modern production! Fans of the »classic metal stance«, you absolutely have to check this one out!
Line-up
Chris Appleton – vocals, guitar
Dan Bate – bass, backing vocals
Martin McNee – drums
GUEST MUSICIAN:
Doug Scarrat (Saxon) – guitar
Production
Absolva
Track list
1. The Devil’s Mouth (04:33)
2. Victimiser (04:03)
3. Never Back Down (04:46)
4. Anthems to the Dead (04:41)
5. In Some Wild Universe (04:28)
6. The Alter & the Cross (02:48)
7. Live for the Fight (04:17)
8. Killing Season (04:12)
9. Taste the Blood (05:14)
10. Soul Remains (05:58)
11. Silent Sacrifice (07:09)
