Unless you're based. Then put on your finest bullet belt, put on some corpsepaint, confuse your mother with all those pentagram shirts she now has to wash and stick around!
This is also in preparation for that Metallica post that I've been working up to for months now.
But there's no fucking way I'll start a Metal thread with gay and lame shit like that!
So instead I'll talk about Absu!
Absu/Abzu/Apsû/Proscriptor McGovern's Apsû
Henceforth called Absu is a US Black/Thrash Metal band from Texas and likely the best known US Black Metal band in general.
They first played Brutal Death Metal but only in demos and you'd have to get out of your way to find that stuff. Ordinarily, if you're going to encounter them, it'll be very fast Thrash Metal with heavy Black Metal influences or the other way around.
Proscriptor, their drummer and also singer, joined, their first album came out and the rest is history with him being the de facto band leader.
Batharum V.I.T.R.I.O.L. still has quite a few Death Metal riffs but the direction is clear, as is the thematic direction about mythology and occultism. Absu itself is a mythical, subterranean ocean in Sumerian mythology and their lyrics are almost impossible to understand unless you get into that shit.
That's not necessary here.
Instead, I just want to give a basic recap of the most important stuff.
The first two albums are about Sumerian mythology, the next three are about Celtic mythology and the last third (so far) are the occult Absu trilogy.
The fifth album, Tara, the last of the Celtic trilogy, is considered by many the best and even one of the best Metal albums in general.
I'm inclined to agree. Picking Manannan as an example is a bit cheeky of me. As it's also on the EP released before this album and it's one of the greatest EPs ever released, so I'm double dipping here for convenience.
Just very fast, relentless riffing. Its a great display for how they can just follow one theme and yet keep changing it up slightly to keep the energy up, yet a poor display of the album, as most songs have more variation in them.
But that's not the album I first heard or even like best. Enter the Absu/Abzu/Apsû trilogy!
I'll just start with the album artworks, because I absolutely love them!
AbsuShow
AbzuShow
ApsûShow
Doesn't matter. What's perhaps interesting is that Proscriptor was almost hired as the drummer for Slayer but didn't because Dave Lombardo finally decided to return.
Let's get into the music! I'll present one song of each of the Absu trilogy of albums and try to go with representative but not too obvious picks.
A great example of the more Thrash Metal approach of the trilogy! If you like this, you'll love the album!
A more difficult choice. The album is 35 minutes long and over 14 minutes is the last song, which is my favourite.
But this song shows a big return of synth sounds, which is a good representation of the album.
Easiest choice ever! The riffs at 0:45 is a recurring theme, as is the picking at 1:16, both getting better through the song.
If high speed riffing is your thing, this is a great album. If it isn't, buy your boyfriend a nice gift for Valentines, faggot!
If I had to name a favourite album, I'd say it's Absu. But you really can't go wrong. I barely mentioned the first five albums but I might just go more indepth on them at a different time.
They are easily one of my favourite bands, even the super old Brutal Death Metal stuff is pretty good. There's so much I could've mentioned. I'll save that too for later.
In the meantime, check them out!
