Canadian death/doom metal outfit Absorb stream their new three-track EP »Smog«; out now via Hypaethral Records!

Hamilton, Ontario based death/doom metal outfit Absorb has just released their new three-track EP »Smog« on July 26th, 2024 via Hypaethral Records.

Tracklist:
01. Dissociated
02. Smog
03. Cecillia

Courtesy of Earsplit PR:

“»Smog« is constant, ceaseless, and cavernous – any lessening of intensity should be viewed not as a boot releasing its weight from your head in respite, but simply that boot recalibrating its aim to come down harder next time.” – Everything Is Noise

Everything Is Noise is currently streaming »Smog«, the latest EP from Hamilton, Ontario-based death/doom outfit Absorb, in its demoralizing entirety. The premiere comes on the eve of the EP’s release, Friday, July 26th via Hypaethral Records.

Forged in 2013, Absorb – Jeff Luckel (lead guitar), David Eckmeier (rhythm guitar), Jason Luckel (bass), and Aaron Barthe (drums) – set out to cultivate a sound that was slow, dissonant, and quakingly heavy. After cycling through a number of vocalists, the final piece of the puzzle fell into place with the addition of vocalist Erik Thorkildsen in 2022. Since then, Absorb has found its true sound, a perfect fit with Thorkildsen’s dominating vocal delivery.

Following the band’s 2023’s Rot EP, »Smog« marks a profound evolution for the band, embracing denser, more atmospheric compositions, that add new layers of depth to their monolithically heavy sound. Absorb’s music is a full-body visceral encounter, drawing from influences such as Primitive Man, Thou, and Cough yet forging a sound that leaves listeners stunned. A three-track, twenty-five-minute aural assault, »Smog« is the next chapter in the band’s inexorable voyage to push their music beyond the limitations of death and doom.

Photo by Brittany Vaughan

Writes Everything Is Noise in part, “From the magnificently sundering cover to the pummelfuck of the instrumentation on this EP’s twenty-five minutes, there’s not really a safe place to turn when Absorb are involved. Things are dangerous yet alluring – »Smog« occupies that morbid curiosity space where you feel compelled to seek out and engage with something that you shouldn’t. From the eruptive first song to the cataclysmic finale, this is a chubby project, rife with scalping riffs, neck-stomping drumming, and acidic vocals.”

Read more and stream Absorb’s »Smog« EP, exclusively at Everything Is Noise, HERE.

Watch the band’s previously released video for the EP’s title track HERE.

»Smog« was produced, engineered, and mixed by Nick Ginn and mastered by Jamie King. Guitars were engineered and recorded by Andy Dmytryshyn. The EP will be released on limited CD (100 x four-panel digipak), limited 12” vinyl (100 Smog, 100 Black) and digital formats.

Find physical preorders at the Hypaethral Records web shop HERE and digital/physical orders at Bandcamp HERE or HERE.

Fans of Primitive Man, Thou, Indian, Cough, FÓRN, Graves At Sea, and the like, pay heed.

Founded in 2012, Hypaethral Records stands as one of the preeminent labels in the realms of doom and blackened metal. This new Absorb EP will stand shoulder-to-shoulder alongside doom releases by QAALM, Olde, and Locusts And Honey.

“Sludge-ridden, literate, and lashing…positively bowel-shifting.” – Rebel X

“The neural calamity that follows is escapable, but the road out is not clear or easy or safe. This is the doom you’ll hear when the last star goes dark.” – Flying Fiddlesticks

“…a crusher… »Smog« is the sound of colossal riffs crashing down around your ears and choking out listeners as they gaze into the void.” — Two Guys Metal Reviews

Absorb is:
Jeff Luckel – Lead Guitar
David Eckmeier – Rhythm Guitar
Jason Luckel – Bass
Aaron Barthe – Drums
Erik Thorkildsen – Vocals

Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well