Review Summary: Pushing the envelope of rage and sentimentality.
There are quite a few ways to go about a musical breakthrough. Some stick to the winning formula like superglue, some set out to new stylistic areas and leave their home base all sad and abandoned; then, some make use of all sorts of upgrades and experiments without fully ditching the sound that got them noticed. As valid as any other option would be, when it comes to extreme metal, it’s always nice to hear the last: a hit record being succeeded by one not necessarily better nor even as good, but faster, heavier, meaner. That’s exactly the case with
Absolutus. After releasing three increasingly heavy and well acclaimed albums, Frontside decided to give their style a fresh spin – both more melodic and aggressive.
After Toma replaced Destroy behind the kit in 2005, thus completing the band’s longest-standing lineup for the next 16 years, the rhythm section underwent a complete transformation.
Absolutus switches its predecessor’s reliance on grooves for extreme, rapid-fire pummelling present in almost every song; far from continuous, this approach nonetheless dominates the record with delightful intensity. The rest of the band aims for increased aggression all the same: apart from the abundance of furious, melodeathy riffs and breakdowns, this tendency also comes through with Auman’s newfound affinity for using proper screams, instead of his signature shouts alone. The production accentuates it excellently with a perfect balance of clarity, grit and immense impact, and it’s hard to disagree with the common sentiment that the guitars are among the best-produced in the entire genre.
Conversely, the album is recognized just as much (if not more) for its melodic side, which is a blessing as much as it is a curse. The juxtaposition of pleasant, catchy singing against the mass of heavy and often blisteringly fast segments works well enough for the general sameness of the choruses to be excused. It’s most effective in “Martwe serca” and “Piekło czeka”, of which the former deserves particular praise for the massive guitar solo that takes up all of its second half. On the other hand, “Nie ma chwały bez cierpienia” doesn’t succeed due to the chorus itself, but rather the contrast it provides to the following beast of a breakdown.
The reason why
Absolutus isn’t as appealing as it could have been is rather trivial: it’s too sappy for its own good. The two proper ballads in the back half, “Wspomnienia jak relikwie” and “Nieodwracalny” have obvious qualities to show but aren’t that interesting all the way through, and their back-to-back placement makes the cumulative sugar content nauseating. Though, they allow the album a moment to breathe before the final, three-song metalcore assault and are quite nice separately – especially the former, which, with its exceptionally powerful and memorable chorus, would become a concert staple for the band. Then, we have the oddballs. “Mały sekret” is a weird case of
wooah-laced mallcore, even weirder because it somehow actually works. Meanwhile, “Wybraniec” is the record’s unrivalled melodic highlight: a ridiculously catchy, dynamic power ballad with some of the band’s best riffs in the bridge and in the lengthy, climactic outro.
With all of this, Frontside’s fourth long player may be flawed, but has plenty to offer. Whether you’re looking for something light and catchy like “Wybraniec”, a brutal sonic aneurysm like “Pod ciężarem milczenia” or anything in between,
Absolutus is ready to provide. What’s also noteworthy is that, despite my gripes with some of the melodic parts, I haven’t heard many albums that manage to mix those with such high levels of aggression as smoothly as this one does. Which, for what it’s worth, makes
Absolutus a testament to the group’s versatility; one of their greatest strengths, after all.
