Friday 24 July 2015

Abrams - ‘Lust. Love. Loss’ (Album Review)


‘Blending spiky guitar lines reminiscent of These Arms Are Snakes, plenty of weird Cave In style effects, angular post-hardcore aggression and no-nonsense stoner riffing, Abrams have created a compelling and addictive listen here.’

Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 16/06/2015
Label: Self Release

‘Lust. Love. Loss’ DD track listing:

1. Manic
2. Sea Salt Lines
3. Sunshine
4. Sweaty and Self Conscious
5. Far from Home
6. Mr. Pink Always Wins
7. The Moat
8. Useless
9. Lust. Love. Loss.
10. The Light

Review:

If, like me, you think the US underground from the early to mid-2000s was a real golden age for heavy music you’re going to have a blast listening to Abrams “Lust. Love. Loss”. The post-hardcore of At The Drive In, the mind-bending complexity of Converge and the Dillinger Escape Plan and anything on Hydra Head all had a massive effect on me at the time and really moulded my tastes going forward. From the ominous opening of “Manic” onwards, I think it’s safe to say that period had a heavy impact on this Denver power trio too.

Blending spiky guitar lines reminiscent of These Arms Are Snakes, plenty of weird Cave In style effects, angular post-hardcore aggression and no-nonsense stoner riffing, Abrams have created a compelling and addictive listen here. The balance of heaviness and melody is spot on and the band often switch effortlessly between the two to awesome effect, particularly on “Salt Sea Line” which moves from initial math-rock acrobatics to a crunching low-end finale. “Far From Home” provides the album’s spaciest moment while curtain closer

“The Light” is the heaviest cut here, featuring some spidery riffs Botch would have been proud of. Things never get dull over the course of these ten tracks with “Mr Pink Always Wins” injecting some punk rock swagger to kick off the second half of the album before the brief reverb-heavy instrumental “The Moat” provides some respite ahead of the onslaught of the closing trio.

“Lust. Love. Loss” is no slavish recreation of its influences though and sounds particularly fresh given the dearth of current bands rocking this style. This is a great record which deserves to find a wider audience and provides further evidence that Colorado is where it’s at for gold-standard rocking at the moment.

Words by: Charlie Butler

‘Lust Love Loss’ is available here

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