Band:	Abscession
Album:	Grave Offerings
Style:	Death metal
Release date:	February 2015
A review by:	Windrider

01. Where Sleeping Gods Dwell
02. Gargoyle
03. In My Coffin
04. Cabin 13
05. Blowtorch Blues
06. Freshly Dug Graves
07. Plague Bearer
08. The Ruiner
09. Engorged With Gore
10. Downfall Pt. 1

Death metal. From Sweden. Do I need to say more? Although that's the band's official description on their facebook page, I feel like my job here is to lose some more words for you readers. Almost forgot, the band's name is Abscession and we are discussing their debut album Grave Offerings today. The band is a three-piece orchestra with the usual setup, plus some keyboards. And they are from Sweden. They play death metal.

The album consists of nine songs with usual death metal lengths and one exception, which I will come to later. Abscession's sound can be best described as a mixture of Florida and Swedish death metal, for example consider merging Deicide with Evocation and you pretty much get the idea. Therefore, heavy and fast riffs shine through the walls of guitars, supported by a deep lying bass and powerful, sometimes technical drums. The harsh vocals are very strong on this album, showing an awesome technique of growling and a perfect balance between understandable words and snorting sounds from hell. While we're at it, some lyrics thematize H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos, which should be reason enough to give this album a spin.

From time to time one can also hear background keys, especially when the guitars are silent, and prominently in the last track, "Downfall pt. 1". This song needs some discussion because of other features that make it different from the previous nine, as there is a part with clean vocals and an overall more melodeath like riffing with melodic leads that sound like all of a sudden the modern Kalmah want to join the Florida-Swedish team, too. Another special track surely is "In My Coffin", a slow doomish song with melancholic lyrics that seems not quite appropriate at first glance, but after having listened to Grave Offerings a few times it suddenly works as a welcomed variety.

Looking at the overall impression, one must say that there are great songs in the first half, yet in the second half it just doesn't feel quite as special as before. Out of its five tracks, mainly "Plague Bearer" and the above discussed "Downfall Pt. 1" stay in mind. The rest is still very solid, yet nothing that couldn't be heard from other bands, too. Production-wise I feel like it's important to praise this album on the highest level, as there is almost everything one could wish for. Powerful guitars and bass with lots of deep and noble tone, nothing like annoying high-gain, run-of-the-mill bathtub-equalizer sound. The vocals, again, are strong as fuck and it's audible that they didn't require a lot of editing. The only thing that could be done a little better are the drums, as they feel not as deep and heavy compared to the guitars, but that's still just one step from perfection.

Conclusion: You like standard death metal with some special features and strong vocals? Then your name could be Fenriz. And even if not, Abscession's album will still be a purchase you won't regret.