Absu – Tara – Review

Absu

Tara (Olympic)
by Tim Den

Talk about “occult metal”… Absu weave Celtic mythology, alchemy, philosophy, Paganism, and a 40-page painting-like booklet into Tara, which – unfortunately – isn’t nearly as interesting as everything surrounding the album. In between long passages that discuss “The Cythraul Klan’s Scrutiny,” “progenitors and prestidigitation,” “182 = 1+8+2 = 11 = {1+1} = 2,” providing the literate death metal enthusiast with an index of terms (in case the average, passing-by follower isn’t schooled in the ways of Aleister Crowley), Absu blast out thrash/grind/necro black metal that’s about as boring as their linguistics are fascinating. With such a richly-rendered theme around the album (not to mention Biblical proportions of information), it’s a shame the band can’t transform their music into a vast brainscape as well.
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