Head Prison Blues is the opening track for this album. The title on its own is something to think about. Not the heaviest track if you have metal core in mind. It’s very melodic, the voice of lead singer Lucas Woodland takes the lead and the electric guitars fill in the background. The choruses are heavier than the verses. Overall, this song is lyrically heavier that musically, but it fits together perfectly, and it creates this dome of feelings around you.
This vibe continues in A Crooked Melody. Although I feel like the instruments are a bit louder and more in the front on this one. Lucas has a few lines where he uses his raw voice, which accentuates the words being sung.

False Dawn starts with beautiful wordplay on a bed of calm guitars. After a bit, the guitars come out of their shell and show some power. For the verses, the song takes a calmer approach. Another beautiful song that takes its time to deliver the story on a bed of electric guitars, which feels calmer than you expect it to be.
Scissors is the first song where the guitars get nice and heavy, which is very fitting for the song.

Honey Moon starts with an acoustic intro, before the electric guitars kick in. The song feels like a power ballad with the heart of a love song. Like the way it started, it also fades out acoustic.
Death Nonetheless is very different from the song we’ve just heard. This one is more aggressive, yet I feel like that’s not the right word since it also feels very melodic and whole.

Her Wings starts mysterious. It slowly goes from one single note to the full band. The song feels closed in, like it’s telling a secret. In the chorus, all of that is gone, and the song opens up to you. A perfect example again of Lucas’ raw voice and its capabilities.
These New Dreams opens with a piano part. It continues quite calm and, like the title says, feels dreamy.

Liminal is there to wake you up from your dream and get to some action. Closer The Angel in the Marble feels heavy right from the start. It starts very slow, but the weight of the song is loud and clear. Once again, the choruses show the heavier part of this band. I think this song also captures the meaning of this album in the lyrics;

“I am a puzzle, I am a painting, I am a work of Art in the making”.

And with that, this album already comes to an end. It’s an album that tells a beautiful story on top of a bed of beautiful music. It is metal core, but very melodic and not as heavy as you would think. Not that that makes this album worth less, but it is something you should keep in mind when you pick this up. There are definitely some heavy guitars on this, but no heavy breakdowns or crazy head bang moments. I do stay with my point that Holding Absence has the ability to create music that sounds very pure and real. It was like that on their previous album, and it’s like that on this album. The Noble Art of Self Destruction is something for you if you’re open to a more toned down metal core genre and ready for a heavy story to be told. Be blown away by the pureness of the sounds Holding Absence creates.

Holding Absence is:
Lucas Woodland – vocals, keyboards, piano, acoustic guitar.
Scott Carey – guitar, backing vocals.
Benjamin Elliott – bass
Ashley Green – drums

Links