THE ABSOLUTION SEQUENCE - Dread Cycle

Formed in Hobart, the six-piece technical death metal outfit has carved themselves into the antipodean metal landscape with exceptional live performances and several previous EP’s, this album showcases the evolution of their brutality and tight musicianship. Those collectively responsible, Stephen Cusato (rhythm guitar & backing vocals), Steven Mason (on rhythm guitar), Alastair Boon (bass & backing vocals), Luke Tucker (lead guitar), Nick Machin and Luke Sanderson (on drums), and Shawn Wells (lead vocals) have composed an intricate opus sure to abrase the senses. 

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With a massive sounding mix, the production values the velocity and weight that is clinical to the ear and raw in its emotions. While very deathlike in its brevity, there is a hardcore beat-down anger vibe embedded with a blackened fury that feels insular and compressive. At times, the songs sway from harsh and dissonant to savage and brutal, laced with grinding atmospherics that reflect themes of a sinister past and cold isolation of the Van Diemens Land. 

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A cohesive trio of guitars surge with tight riff assemblies weaved with angular concretions of slammed chords fused with deep janky basslines all working overtime in a ferocious intent. An assaultive battery of blasting beats and cymbal melees flawlessly scaffold the shifting tempos of the complex song structures consolidating the bands unique sonic signature. The vocals switch between caustic snarls, acidic growls and guttural screams projecting the lyrical concepts with a sense of torturous despair and weathered ruminations.

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Of the opening tracks, Despotic Ruin (Diet of Worms) and Idols of Confraternity, we are confronted with a fury of crushing riffage, roaring vocals, and blistering drum work that benchmarks what’s to come over the course of this album. The middle passage of tracks feels to be most gripping and intense: The Sordid Miasma and its pained atmospherics, followed by the brooding heaviness of The Nightlight Sigil, and the searing punishment dealt by Promethean Pilferage form a captivating triptych of unrelenting power and natural precision. On the closing end is The Diary of the Emaciated, that feels slightly toned down in its immensity that winds out the album's narrative as if another horizon awaits.

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Receiving praise from international luminaries such as Nile, Archspire, Thy Art is Murder, Psycroptic, and Northlane; THE ABSOLUTION SEQUENCE has composed a technical masterpiece that will have fans climbing all over this. Dread Cycle is an aural experience that is hostile as it is complex, offering accessible allegories of inner turmoil and aggrieved disposition.

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SCORE 9/10

Reviewed by glennosp