The Absence

From Your Grave (Metal Blade)
by Martin Popoff

One EP in ’04, and now this, From Your Grave, the debut full-length by a Tampa, Florida band that, quite amusingly, play melodic Swedish death metal. Very expertly, I might add. No clean vocals for these guys (OK, one?!), Jamie Stewart roaring in a Tagtgren-inspired death caw that verges on black, or at least Finnish. The guitars of Peter Joseph and Patrick Pintavalle are a joy to behold, their tones and overt Gothic melodies reminding of God Forbid, their medieval and doomy lacings and placings turning these tracks very clean, tight, and controlled. Erik Rutan turns in his smoothest production job yet, rendering From Your Grave, again, blended not unlike God Forbid and Shadows Fall, o’er which Stewart barks out imagistic, abstract, succinct tales of overcoming, along with a bunch of dark, apocalyptic, evil, nasty things. The guy’s thank you list starts with “hails to: God” and ends with “Hell will be unleashed!” And the marks? Well, it ain’t original, but fans of Arch Enemy should eat this up.
(www.metalblade.com)