REVIEW: Perdition – Absentia Mentis (EP/2013)

Artist: Perdition

Album: Absentia Mentis (EP)

There is a quaking in the earth. The firmament dividing mantle and soil—crust and core—shakes ominously, toppling towers and swallowing structures whole on the planet’s surface. There is something afoot—something evil—and it will not stop until every life on every inch of earth’s surface is touched by it. However, it doesn’t simply wait for these ants—drones of mankind—to wander into its palms. This evil reaches out and takes what it wants, snatching at souls and wringing them dry, depleted of the will to carry on. This evil is the plodding, looming symphony found within Absentia Mentis, the latest and last EP by Kansas-based crushers Perdition. Absolutely stuffed with dense, suffocating heaviness and intense, mesmerizing symphonic elements, Perdition have crafted a mischievously dark and marvelously evil experience that will fill the listener’s head, heart and soul with nothing but blackness.

While Absentia Mentis certainly begins subtly, as if tremors lancing across the earth’s superficial soil, it certainly doesn’t stay that way for long. Shortly after “The Further” flows into “I, Creator,” these tremors and shakes turn into deep, resounding quakes. This can be seen most adequately in Perdition’s penchant for sinister, crushing instrumentation. Lacerating blast beats and skin-splitting riffs slam head-on into pummeling, demoralizing breakdowns and deep, looming percussion. Fretwork that is at once razor sharp and bloodletting can, at the drop of a hat, synchronize with the booming, resonating percussion to create immersive, evil breakdowns that snap the listener’s spine clean in half. “Dreaming in Frailty” displays this magnificently, catching the listener off-guard time after time, constantly keeping them guessing as to when the next soul-swallowing moment of unfathomable brutality will pour down their throat and harden in their stomach like fast-acting concrete.

Perdition’s instrumental dynamic is bolstered further by an immense, incredible vocal performance. Throughout all of Absentia Mentis, the jarring, blistering fretwork is amplified by skyscraper high screams and marvelous mid-range shouts. However, when the riffs and pummeling blast beats give way to dissonant, visceral breakdowns and chug-heavy grime, guttural vocals follow suit. “I, Creator” and “Throne of Exile” are perfect examples of this: vocals amplify and intensify the already deep and captivating instrumentation. Perdition do nothing half-way: when they assault the listener, they wage a full-blown war with screeching screams and guttural growls as bullets to load in cannons composed of crushing chug-heavy breakdowns and razor-sharp riffs that leave the listener bloodied, battered and in billions of pieces.

The warhorse that is Absentia Mentis would not be completely armed, however, were it not for the brilliant, immersive symphonic elements that make Perdition the powerhouse that they are. “I, Creator” is perhaps the best example of this not just on this EP, but of all the band’s material. The conclusion to this otherwise sturdy and solid track features a symphonic element that accompanies a breakdown so evil that it puts the Sith Lords to shame, and makes Sarumon seem like a Girl Scout. While every track on Absentia Mentis is heavy in its own right, it is the symphonic components of the release which make it truly evil—down to the very core of its existence. Moments like the conclusion to “I, Creator” or the climax to “Imprisonment” are proof of this. The chugs of the guitar and pounding boom of the percussion—when accompanied by the keys and symphony—surpass a level of “heavy” and proceed straight on to “evil” without letting the listener pass go or collect their sanity, let alone two hundred dollars.

Relinquish your sanity—absolve yourself of the will to live. Because if you don’t do it for yourself, Perdition will certainly do it for you. Absentia Mentis is a release so sinister, crushing and brooding that it demolishes every release in its path to deathcore glory, giving an already remarkable band the more-than-noteworthy send-off they deserve.

10/10

For Fans Of: Make Them Suffer, Signal the Firing Squad, The Bridal Procession

By: Connor Welsh