Head and Chips!
Most people like chips in Britain; supposedly the national dish is fish and chips or is that egg and chips. Regardless, chips are ubiquitous and after a lifetime of them it's very hard to get excited about masticating another plate full despite their inherent quality. Tellingly, Bill Hicks once warned us that we were over our spud quota. My laboured point is coming: hard rock is like chips and maybe we've had enough. That's it – sorry. Hard rock is certainly enjoyable but the finest ingredients are required to make it palatable after so many years. The only other alternative is to ration your intake. Seeing as releases in the genre are ten a penny the reduced dosage doesn't seem possible so sourcing the best components are essential. In other words make the very best chip there is.
Revengine haven't managed this (though they might be ace chip makers). But it can be done - earlier this year their Scandinavian brethren Graveyard managed it on "Hisingen Blues" and mainstream titans Foo Fighters made a great record late in their career. Evidence that even forty years after hairy guys first teamed Les Pauls with Marshall stacks hard rock can succeed. It's not that Revengine are bad it's just that "The Absence" is hopelessly generic (the Tesco basic of chips). The band never venture beyond simple lyrical statements ("fuck you all/go to hell") tossed out over chunky but uninventive riffs. The production is thick and captures a certain degree of energy but "The Absence" does, ahem, lack something. Reliving mid-nineties Metallica is something few would choose to do so it seems strange that Revengine have chosen the "Load" / "Re-Load" period as their main reference point. Riffs meander without purpose merely piling up over the course of songs like 'Characterized' and 'Revolver' while singer Antti Jokiranta channels nu-metal miserablist Aaron Lewis.
The absence here is one of excitement, raw energy or an idiosyncrasy that marks out Revengine as a something out of the ordinary. However, there's no sport to be had bringing them down. You could hate Nickelback without ever feeling guilty as they were coining it and massively arrogant artistes to boot but Revengine are just four ordinary guys who want to rock for a living. There's probably a chip related pun to be made here but I've lost interest in that metaphor and this record. Four Finns doing karaoke versions of their favourite American hard rock records is the summation.