Well, Absolute Bloom is the new band of former Life of Agony
vocalist Keith Caputo, and this, as far as I'm aware, is the first demo
being touted.
Anyway, details. Well, Absolute Bloom consist of :
The music is, I guess, best described as an extension of the direction
Life of Agony were possibly headed in with the Soul Searching Sun
album.Vocally it sees Keith continuing to veer away from the (at times)
overwrought vocal style that he used on the first 2 LOA albums.
Moondoves seems a fairly straightforward track at first, filled
with lyrical references that, if you're a bit of cynical bastard like
me, could maybe be taken in a few ways 'it's not what it seems ...' and
'don't listen to the music on the radio'. Taken totally out of context,
but makes you wonder. It's a song that definitely grows on you the more
you listen to it (Doesn't that happen with the majority of music?) and
features some good vocal melodies.
Absolute Bloom starts out slowly, a spartan kind of music, no
evidence of the almighty riff. Introspective, but musically in a
different manner to LOA.
Just in case you think this all means Keith is going totally mellow,
the apparent chorus in Wildflower might reassure 'I don't really
give a fuck, at least that's what I like to think'. It's still not
overly heavy musically, but sometimes it's attitude that counts. And it
seems the attitude here is to express via a new musical direction.
The final track, Selfish features Keith on Piano quite
extensively. By the end of the song, it stands out as the closest to
SSS material of the four. I guess in a way, it's a song which shows the
so called 'sense of maturity' you sometimes hear mentioned about in
music. That tends to get translated to 'loss of aggression' by some
people, but is merely evidence of the desire to explore different
musical avenues. You can really take it whichever way you want to.
So, if you like LOA and want to hear what Keith is upto now, then you
need to get your head into the SSS mindset at the very least. Don't
come hoping for, or expecting hardcore, because you're going to be
disappointed. But as four songs in their own right, disintct from LOA,
which ultimately is how they SHOULD be treated, even if it's NOT going
to be the case, then they are pretty good. But they need a bit of time
to get into though, but you'll get there.
For more details, and to purchase the demo, either write to the band,
enclosing payment of $6. Cheques should be made out to Michael
Dagostino and sent to Absolute Bloom, 1468 East 71st Street, Suite 2,
Brooklyn, NY 11234or you can visit the webpage at http://www.absolutebloom.com
for further information..
Thanks to Brad for supplying my copy of the demo. And watch out for an
interview in the next issue.