The Absence - From Your Grave

*=Staff's pick	Intro A Breath Beneath* Necropolis From Your Grave Heaven Ablaze* Summoning The Darkness Shattered I, Deceiver My Ruin Seven Demons*

Genre	Melodic Death Metal	Jamie Stewart	Vocals
Tracks	10	Patrick Pintavalle	Guitar
Runningtime	43 Min.	Peter Joseph	Guitar
Label	Metal Blade	Nicholas Calaci	Bass
Release	19 Sept. 2005	Jeramie Kling	Drums
Country	USA	-	Keyboards
Similar artists	Dark Tranquillity, In Flames

The Absence claim to be in the genre Melodic Death Metal. But when it comes to melodies they are far behind Swedish bands like Dark Tranquillity, Soilwork and In Flames. A Breath Beneath kicks a furious start to the record. Fast and hard. But already in the third song, the title track From Your Grave, the sound has turned into a repeating, grey mass of brutal yawning. There is very little originality that makes you prefer The Absence before any other band in the genre.

The songs are not strong enough to stand for themselves either. A small recovery can be found in Heaven Ablaze, that delivers the strongest chorus on the album. Then it once again becomes as grey as the cover. I, Deceiver stands out a bit heavier and thrashier than the rest. Seven Demons has a little more melody in it. But on the whole the song material is too anonymous to hit you where you live.

Jamie Stewart is a quite colourless growler/screamer. He lacks the deep in his voice that for example Mikael Stanne has. The production is not much to mention, a bit too lame and clean, as usual these days. I the States it might be radical to play the 'European' kind of metal, but here it takes more than just to copy the originals. The Absence has some work to do before they impress me.