Absurd Creation

Demo EP

Even though this is just a demo, it truly feels like a full experience. Absurd Creation deliver an intense, organic performance; let’s just hope that, for the formal release, they will avoid the bane of all prog-metal: unnecessary overproduction.

Modern tech-death metal is a tricky concept to tackle. On one hand, we have -for the most part- amazing musicians whose technical abilities are on such an Olympic level, that they just act like sad reminders of why you were destined to a life of writing reviews instead of making music; but, on the other hand, sometimes it is difficult to take all that dexterity seriously. Much how it happens with the indie-scene, favoring aesthetics over personality, on the heavier side of the spectrum we tend to have mindless fretboard acrobatics over engaging songwriting.

This got specially obnoxious with the rise of djent a few years back. Everything was a competition of who could tune lower and play comically complicated syncopations just because, but this gimmick could only carry a tune so far. As it tends to happen with most genres, their most distinctive element becomes exaggerated to the point of parody; most of the time, these songs didn’t have anything else going for them other than their off-beat riffs and drumming. It was self-indulgence at its finest.

Tijuana had its run of bands like this back in the “scene-kid days” (mostly trendy metal-core and slam-death oriented) and in more recent times, a band like Edena would come to mind if we were to talk about current (or late) local prog-metal, but their approach felt a little dated since it was very reminiscent of the über polished and overproduced wave of Animals as Leaders wannabes. They were the prime example of musical stiffness trying to pass off as complex writing. However, there’s another band with a simpler approach, that blend chops with feeling and just the right amount of rawness: enter Absurd Creation.

Even though this is just their demo, it truly feels like a full experience. Absurd Creation deliver an intense, organic performance that showcases their chemistry as a band and shows just how desperately this genre needs to get rid of its signature unnecessary overproduction. Yes, a little tweaking here and there will go a long way since this is a very raw album, but in this context, it adds to the experience (besides, it is a demo). Each track feels like a collaborative effort -like actual songs- and not as a vehicle for each musician to show-off their skills. Absurd Creation is not carving a new niche nor paving the way for a new strain of metal, but they could become worthy flag-bearers of an often mocked genre.

The intro song may trick us into believing this will be a djenty experience, with the chugging staccato riff in the lowest register, but the drums put that thought to rest with a simple beat through which the guitar and bass seamlessly flow, instead of going for the usual angular figures. This is not to say that it doesn’t feel technical, but it does not come off as its main -and only- appeal. We could do without the more fusion inclined moments, in which the guitar blasts into full guitar-hero solos -which is when the songs lose a little personality- but those slip ups are easily forgiven since they’re fairly forgettable when you compare them to the rest of the parts they’re tangled in between.

The tracks may have your basic loud-quiet-loud formula and you may be able to predict the change in dynamics from a mile away, but still, without being massively impressive transitions, what the band is playing is good enough to hold its own even if it’s an overplayed formula. When the band goes into clean passages, they do create a change in mood, instead of just keeping the same feel without the use of distortion. These moments are an opportunity to breathe, and instead of going for noodling jazz-tinged patterns just to keep showing off, Absurd Creation opts to keep things simpler, with arpeggiated post-rock detours that still feel proggy, but restrained; “Dark Flow” beautifully displays this dynamic in its last third.

“Forest of Illusion” and “Cosmic Silence” make the best use of all the prog- metal cliches available, but the band makes it work because of how unpretentious the songs feel, and thus, we arrive at the actual highlight of the album and of the band themselves: they don’t come off as your typical prog snob unit -although I might be wrong since I don’t know them personally- but it does reflect in how the music easily flows and transitions through different branches of metal and rock without feeling convoluted. They may not sound as varied as Beirah or play as tight as Edena, but fuck it, I’ll take Absurd Creation’s -apparent- humility and raw power over the Absurdly Calculated steps those bands take.

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