After a first big EP/mini-album, Cycles, Absence of Colors became a trio with the arrival of Brice Berrerd (bass/keyboards), and the post-metal band offers us a new journey in their company with Poison on Your Lips, whose artwork certainly lives up to the aesthetic specifications promised by the band's name! Instrumental post-metal quickly connotes the type of universe and influences we're going to encounter, but the atmospheric and electronic memories of Cycles also gave us a glimpse of less codified tendencies and a variety of sounds that allow Absence of Colors to assert its identity.
The album's opening track is a fine example of this desire to surprise, to avoid relying on predictable formulas: where the genre often demands crescendo-like structures, Ignorance is Strength attacks right from the start with a catchy groove and a menacing heaviness. In the background, we can hear very subtle industrial synthetic noises that not only give the usual incantatory aesthetics of these loops a futuristic touch, but also give the sound a breadth that immediately captures the listener's attention. In the style of Russian Circles, a claimed inspiration, Absence of Colors is immersive and takes us on a stormy journey of emotions that swell and explode.
This debut album contains its share of mysteries, like those evoked by the guitar on The Hidden Giant, which we seek to unravel as if crossing a thick fog. There may be no colours, but there is a remarkable amount of nuance: the more ethereal, hallucinatory reveries take shape and draw us towards rough earthquakes. Poison on Your Lips is less contemplative and melancholic than Cycles, and more intense too. This doesn't deprive us of introspective moments, but the subject matter has clearly become denser, with Absence of Colors gaining in bite and weight. The bass playing, with its mystical Tool-like roundness, contrasts with the cold, mechanical and relentless drums of Fury Room. It borders on mantra, it borders on industrial, but Absence of Colors navigates between all this without ever crudely mimicking the gimmicks of others.
With its discreet electronic beats and vocal samples, Death from Above, its anguished beginning and ten minutes of contained storms, poetic evocations and introspective wanderings, is an epic piece that is both adventurous and sombre, perfectly illustrating Absence of Colors' ambition. There is something narrative about their compositions; the tracks have a life of their own and could be divided into chapters. As the heaviness of Perfect Storm and its whirlwind of images created by the music concludes the journey on a layer that lingers like a ghost refusing to leave the world, we appreciate one last time the balance found by Absence of Colors. The rules of the game are respected, but the band shows inventiveness in breathing life into the constraints of the genre: there are beautiful contrasts, both in terms of textures and emotions, and a real mastery of balance. It's an album that unfolds like a breathless narrative, straddling different worlds and moods. No colours, but plenty of nuances!
