Tacoma, Washington natives Aethereus recently announced the upcoming Friday, August 10th release of their debut album Absentia through The Artisan Era. It is the follow up to 2015's Ego Futurus EP which featured Oblivion/ex-The Zenith Passage drummer Luis Martinez. Absentia is the group's first release with new members Matt Behner on drums (ex-Fully Consumed/ex-Year of Desolation) along with Vance Bratcher (Vocalist) and Scott Hermanns (Bassist) who play in the highly praised Seattle symphonic death metal outfit The Devils of Loudon. The new line-up rounds out an already strong musical foundation set by founding guitarists Kyle Chapman and Benjamin Gassman who have been writing together since their early days in 2008 and onwards in their previous project known as Seker. 

Right from the get-go, Sam Nelson's (Allegaeon, First Fragment, Vale Of Pnath) ethereal cover artwork draws you into the richly textured and often beautiful world Aethereus creates musically on Absentia. The group's take on progressive death metal deftly combines elements of atmospheric death metal, ferocious technical death metal, and more overtly melodic death metal focused ends of the spectrum into a sound all their own. Aethereus cites influences ranging from Obscura, Spawn of Possession, Cynic, and Gorod which rightly shows in the ambitious and smartly crafted songs found on Absentia. Aethereus - Absentia is a prime death metal experience fans of the genre will go crazy for.

Guitarist Kyle Chapman comments on the upcoming release of Absentia:

“Work on Absentia started back in January of 2016 shortly after the release of Ego Futurus. Shaun and Kyle had already been working on mapping out new songs and developing potential lyrical concepts. However, because of Shaun’s untimely passing, the album became something completely different. It went from a sort of weird self-indulgent sci-fi story to be about depression and loss, becoming both a point of frustration and catharsis. Absentia is loosely structured around the Kübler-Ross Five Stages of Grief (Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance). Musically, lyrically, and conceptually, the album follows the stages of grief and describes the experience of losing a loved one and the lasting impact that person’s absence has on an individual, a group, and life as a whole. It begins in a chaotic and bombastic manner, goes into some somber places, but ultimately ends on a somewhat hopeful note."

Tracklisting:

“Cascades Of Light”
“Writhe”
“Mortal Abrogation”
“Fluorescent Halls Of Decay” (feat. Brody Uttley of Rivers Of Nihil)
“Absentia”
“That Which Is Left Behind”
“The Black Circle”
“With You, I Walk”
“The Pale Beast”

“The Pale Beast” lyric video: