YES!!! Fatal Fusion are back with album number three, Total Absence! Following on nicely from their two previous offerings (2010’s Land of the Sun and 2013’s The Ancient Tale), it also feels like a good step up from the pair.
One of the best things about Fatal Fusion is that they have a fairly old-school sound to their music, yet there’s also a modern spin and the balance is good – it doesn’t feel like they’re a band stuck in the past desperately trying to replicate the “greats” from years gone by, nor does it feel like they’re doing the same as a lot of other modern prog bands – they’ve combined the past and present together and it really works for them.
With seven tracks and over 77 minutes in duration, there’s plenty to be getting your teeth into with Total Absence and although I commented on some of the songs on their last album being unnecessarily long, this isn’t the case this time round. Sure, the tracks are long again (the closer clocks in at over sixteen minutes!) but they don’t drag or feel repetitive; everything just slots together magnificently and the flow is fantastic.
Although it’s difficult to pinpoint just one song as being a particular highlight, one of the stronger songs is Forgotten One, a track that starts off very energetically before descending into a slower and emotive number. The vocals are powerfully moving atop of the more simplistic instrumentation at the start, and as the song progresses into a fuller sound, the amount of different layers and elements mean you’ll notice something different on each subsequent playthrough of the track.
Fatal Fusion’s last album was good – but this one is great. Total Absence is an album that should not be missed.
9/10
