Absu-lutely

It’s difficult to tell how serious the Dallas natives in Absu are about their eyeliner-drenched, occultist take on black metal.

On one hand, it should be easy to dismiss a frontman who calls himself Proscriptor and introduces songs about magic(k) spells with on-stage numerological rants.
On the other hand, no one is making blackened thrash with quite the same intensity and sincerity as the Texan trio.

“Abzu” is Absu’s sixth LP and perhaps its most complete yet.

From the ripping drum intro and King Diamond-like scream that opens “Earth Ripper” to the closing strains of 14-minute closer “A Song for Ea,”the album doesn’t relent for a moment of its 36-minute duration.

Even when the highlight of album “Circles of the Oath” brings acoustic guitar into the equation, something evil stirs beneath the surface, and it never lets on whether it’s winking at us or not.

Despite middle tracks “Abraxas Connexus” and “Skrying in the Spirit Vision” not being quite as gripping as the rest of the record, “Ontologically, It Became Time & Space” earns those points and more back for “Abzu” on the strength of its
title alone.

Next time Absu tours, Proscriptor will just have to explain what the hell it means.