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Absentation – The Intellectual Darkness – Full-length – 2020

The Intellectual Darkness is the third full-length album by Absentation and the one I prefer more compared to the fourth. The album has 8 old-school death metal tracks composed and recorded by one man. The artwork for the cover is amazing and depicts all of the dark philosophy themes expressed in the lyrics. Originally self-released, The Intellectual Darkness once more saw the light of day thanks to Darzamadicus Records from Macedonia.

The first thing to notice is that the songs don’t rush into thrashing and blasting and are well thought. Almost every song starts with a slower section that introduces the general theme. The sound is of closed type with dry feeling to it, just like death metal used to sound. It’s fair to say that an additional guitar line could have filled the mild emptiness in the background. But even without that, the atmosphere of the whole album is quite satisfying. I like the breaks in forms of guitar lead parts which only announce the beginning of blasting mayhem. Age of Suffering is my favorite composition just because of that.

I highly recommend this album and band to any metalhead out there. The band is from Syria, which is a rarity. By supporting Absentation you are also supporting the young and perspective Syrian metal scene.