The Absence of Grace

This is a band made up of a Finnish guy and a German guy who seem to have been having a great time cranking out five albums in three years. (Interestingly, the German guy, "Count Revenant," used to be in Rituals of a Blasphemer, who are originally from around here and who I actually saw live back in the day when they opened for Nachtmysium and Wolves in the Throne Room. Small world.)

Anyway, this is stripped-down Black Metal without being what I would call "raw," especially with the amount of keys used as a backing instrument. There's a lot of atmospheric melody in the background while the guitars slash and march along. I wish this band would change up the tempo more often, as a lot of this kind of strides along at the same pace, and it makes the album sound more like one long song. If it was a great song that would be one thing, but this is just serviceable. This would sound cooler if the production had more grit, but it is a very polished, modern sound that doesn't have the kind of underground dirt on it I would like. This makes good background music but it's not better than that.