Absolace

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.