The Absence

[Inazone]

Last night, the Under Eden boys and I got to open for The Absence, a new Metal Blade band. I had heard a couple of their MP3s, but witnessing them play live was truly a wonder to behold. I have NEVER seen a band play so tight, and that is despite a couple of technical difficulties during a relatively short set. They seem to be getting thrown into the metalcore genre, but there was no "core" in what they were doing. Their frontman could probably get a gig in an At the Gates tribute band if he was ever so inclined, so uncanny was his Tomas Lindberg likeness.

Even cooler (from a guitar nerd perspective) was seeing them playing Caparisons. One was a Horus, not sure about the other. One guy was playing through a Madison rig, and the other through a Framus. The band that played between us and The Absence was a local death metal band called Necromis, and one of their guitarists has a couple of the "upside down" Ibanez models that look like the Jackson Demon. There was so much cool gear at the show that it was almost distracting.

As for us, it was Jackson/Charvel night as always. My brother was using his 550XL, recently modded to replace the volume pot with a killswitch. I was using my USA RR-2 live for the first time, and was getting some great tone out of the stock Armstrongs. Had my doubts before the show, but I will definitely *not* be swapping in different pickups.

[the_drip]

Re: The Absence

I just got done reading about them.

they sound like somethign I'd dig. Melo-death still rules IMO.

[DeathDaily]

Re: The Absence

So I just finished reading up about them on the metal blade site... and I thought it was that the abscence! Yeah, I remember when they were just a local Tampa band, they kicked ass then too, I got to see them a bunch. The reason they get lumped in with the metalcore is that that's the scene they come from. Despite the death metal history, the predominant scene in the bay area is that fashionable stuff... I've actually seen the guitar player at this indie bar every time I've gone there. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[Scholomance]

Re: The Absence

I listened to The Absence last week. They definitely have some of the old Florida death metal sound which is a rare thing to hear nowadays.
The guitarist in Necromis must have been playing Ibanez 540P's, also known as the Alex Skolnick model. They're awesome and very respectable shred guitars. I still have one but they're getting pretty tough to find lately.

Scott

[egorillad]

Re: The Absence

I actually bought a used caparison from peter of the absence. It was a purple neck through model which they dont make anymore and he even put his autograph on it.