Nadim Jamal - Vocals
Kyle Roberts - Keys, Synths, S… Read Full Bio ↴The band:
Nadim Jamal - Vocals
Kyle Roberts - Keys, Synths, Samples
Greg Cargopoulos - Drums, Bass, Percussion
Jack Skinner - Guitars
Absolace marks the coming together of individuals hailing from very diverse musical backgrounds, and is the brainchild of drummer Greg Cargopoulos. Its birth can be traced back to his initial encounter with guitarist Jack Skinner, and their school days. What brought the two together was a mutual passion for music and their converging tastes in rock/metal. As the elder of the two musicians, Greg had already played guitar, bass, as well as drums with various Dubai acts, while Jack often attended his future band mate’s performances. After a yearlong stay in Australia and a stint with Brisbane-based melodic metal outfit Percuto, Greg returned to Dubai and began to write material for what was to become Absolace sometime in 2007.
It was shortly after that Greg and Jack joined forces to finally set their own project in motion. The two were already in familiar waters: Jack had been playing guitar since the age of 9 and featured as a member of several rock bands before the fusion of Absolace, including the experimental group Stenchwart (M.A.N.). Their shared love for some of the most prolific acts in rock and metal cemented the bond, and their diverging musical training backgrounds made this union even more remarkable. While Jack has had a classical musical upbringing and is jazz-oriented, Greg’s live experience and flair for metal makes Absolace an exceptional experience in genre synthesis.
The band’s final recording lineup began to take shape in late 2007 when Greg got in touch with Kyle Roberts, a childhood friend and talented practitioner of music production, sound design, and plug-in development. In addition to the latter, and experience in film and animation postproduction and scoring, Kyle’s musical predilections include electro and techno, with two releases with Electrostimulation Records to his name. For Greg, Kyle’s recruitment and his ability to play keyboards also provided an avenue to channel his infatuation with the instrument in metal. The addition of Kyle to the roster provided the band with inimitable ingenuity, and reinforced the compelling musical formula.
The Absolace lineup had come full circle when Greg met and was impressed by Nadim Jamal, a seasoned vocalist from Beirut, Lebanon. Nadim’s alternative upbringing and an intimate connection with progressive rock and live performance represented a noteworthy contribution to the band’s versatile sound, which was now endowed with the sort of intense vocal delivery that the rest of the band sought for their music. The singer’s vocal arrangements are strongly influenced by Seattle rock heavyweights Alice in Chains, which is reflected by his emphasis on and ear for layered harmonies.
In September 2008, Greg entered the studio in order to record the drum tracks for the band’s impending debut album. Contribution between the four musicians hence began in earnest in the final months of 2008, when Nadim started to write vocal melodies and lyrics. Meanwhile, Greg flew to the UK in November 2008 to see Kyle and begin tracking the synth parts for the record.
The result – Resolve[d] – is the product of a long process that took place at several different locations between September 2008, and June 2009, including Dubai’s In The Mix studio, Kyle’s home studio in the UK, as well as Greg’s home studio in Dubai. From the outset, the core of the album’s musical configuration has revolved around rhythm, where Greg would compose the backbone based on rhythmic structure. Most notably because of the drummer’s strong grasp of rhythm, guitars mainly constitute an afterthought and embody the sort of artistic garnish that the rest of the band have come to master, and Resolve[d] serves as potent testimony to the fact.
The lyrical content of the record is at times cathartic, and is based on Nadim’s experiences and relationships that have affected him in a profound way. Among other things, the lead singer’s lines tackle themes such as deep personal introspection, struggling with the loss of a loved one, as well as one’s oft-conflicting connection to the band’s home base, Dubai. Yet despite the emotional depth of his words, the band’s frontman manages to articulate a positive message in each of the songs, and looks to better times with eager anticipation and a desire to surmount obstacles that life puts in front of us.
Final steps were taken in July 2009 when Jens Bogren, an established producer in the Scandinavian metal scene, started the post-production of the album at Fascination Street Studios in Orebro, Sweden.
A general pursuit of instinct, rather than a conventional rock band dynamic also characterizes the group’s first studio effort. The founder of Absolace is an avid admirer of the intricacies behind the psychology of music, and the rapport between cognition and emotion in the human brain. As such, the creative method utilized by the members of Absolace espouses a holistic manner of thought, rather than placing a narrow-minded emphasis on individual parts. What is more, the final product that Resolve[d] has come to embody had seen Greg, Jack, Nadim, and Kyle engage in plenty of improvisation during the course of the recording process. As the band prepare to take their music to live audiences in support of the record, the development of their artistic impulses and boisterous rise to prominence in the scene are bound to be only the first chapter of a promising and long metal saga.
sirens
Absolace Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Volatile and charged, here to leave your mark
Stop and test these grounds
Where you rest your feet
Build a nest in me
Planting seeds while I sleep
Pulling me through you, draining me of my fruit
Claws you sink in deep, claim what you have come to seek
All the while I starve, for your need to feed
Look at me if you can
I am torn, derailed
Once content, now I’ve failed
Forgotten, alone, and frail
Now you’re done I salvage, my pride once gone
Scent has faded and your traces worn
But I fail to understand who I was when I let you in
The lyrics of "Sirens" by Absolace convey the feeling of being discarded and drained by someone who was initially captivating and magnetic. The opening lines describe the subject's recklessness and how they easily discard the singer. The use of "volatile and charged" paints a picture of someone explosive and alluring, but ultimately self-destructive. The singer invites this person (or people) to test their grounds, imploring them to build a nest in them, and plant seeds while the singer sleeps. This could be interpreted as an invitation to intimacy or trust, but it becomes clear that this person is not interested in reciprocity, only parasitism. They drag the singer along in their zealous pursuit and drain them of their fruit, all while the singer is starving due to the other person's need to feed.
The chorus changes the tone slightly as the singer confronts their own emotional state. They describe themselves as "torn, derailed, forgotten, alone, and frail," implying that they have been shredded emotionally by this interaction. The final verse sees the singer salvage their pride as the other person's "scent has faded and your traces worn." However, they still fail to understand how they let this person affect them in the first place.
Overall, "Sirens" is a powerful reflection on the emotional costs of toxic relationships. Absolace's use of poetic language and vivid imagery helps to bring the listener into the emotional world of the song and makes it resonate on a personal level.
Line by Line Meaning
Reckless as you are, it is me you discard
Despite your reckless behavior, you choose to discard me.
Volatile and charged, here to leave your mark
You possess an explosive and intense energy, aimed at leaving your mark.
Stop and test these grounds
Take a moment to pause and explore this place,
Where you rest your feet
where you have chosen to settle.
Build a nest in me
Create a home within me,
Planting seeds while I sleep
Planting the seeds of your desires while I am unaware.
Dragging me along, in zealous pursuit
You drag me through your passionate pursuit,
Pulling me through you, draining me of my fruit
You pull me through your own being, draining me of my potential.
Claws you sink in deep, claim what you have come to seek
You dig your claws deep and claim what you have been searching for all along.
All the while I starve, for your need to feed
Meanwhile, I am left to starve and wither away as you continue to fulfill your own needs.
Look at me if you can
If possible, take a moment to observe me.
I am torn, derailed
I feel torn apart and off course.
Once content, now I’ve failed
I was once satisfied, but now I have failed.
Forgotten, alone, and frail
Now I am forgotten, isolated, and weak.
Now you’re done I salvage, my pride once gone
Now that you have finished, I work to recover my damaged pride.
Scent has faded and your traces worn
Your scent has faded, and your influences on me have worn away.
But I fail to understand who I was when I let you in
But even now, I struggle to comprehend who I was and what led me to allow you into my life.
Contributed by Owen I. Suggest a correction in the comments below.