This 5-piece from Tampa, Florida has some fine neighbours with bands such as Morbid Angel and Cannibal Corpse. Style-wise they don't have a lot in common with them. Musically they remind me more of In Flames, Soilwork, Arch Enemy and Carcass (Heartwork). You could say that they have more in common with the Swedish style of Death Metal.

11 tracks that listen away easily and are food for every death-metal-thrash-core fan. As a lot of other bands The Absence use some great thrash-riffs, the guitarwork is of excellent quality and there is a lot of melody in the songs. The riffs are very tight and the vocals of Jamie Stewart are aggressive and fit to the music. I agree with you that it isn't very original, but the songs are well written, the execution is perfect and it sounds like a clock.

For songs like "Enemy Unbound" and "Wartorn" they can call me out of bed, no matter what time it is. One thing that irritates me is the last song "Triumph". The song seems to be 11:58 long, but after 5 minutes we get a 2,5 minute silence after which some acoustic part finishes the song. Completely redundant if you ask me. Just stop at 5 minutes. All in all, The Absence delivers a nice and decent album with no surprises, but with quality.