CONCRETE – Absent Mortality

“There is more evil around us here than I have ever encountered before”

A quote from the 1959 film The Hound of the Baskervilles, spoken by the immortal Peter Cushing in the role of Sherlock Holmes, echoes with mysterious reverberation… before dissolving into a riff that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up and formally gives the starting signal for the fifth full-length album by the butchers from Shumen, Bulgaria CONCRETE. The tone set at the very beginning of Eminent In Suffering is no coincidence at all – the gothic horror atmosphere of the lyrics and compositions has been a trademark of the quartet for quite some time now and is certainly one of the elements that sets them apart from most of their peers.

It’s true that fifteen years “in the game” is neither too much nor too little in the context of the local underground, but the key term when examining CONCRETE’s development is consistency. And although small steps often go unnoticed over time, it is precisely those steps that help a band discover its own unique face, develop its technical mastery both in the studio and on stage (never settling for a single level, always seeking new ways to challenge themselves), build the right circle of partnerships and friendships (something many overlook), and, last but not least, establish for itself that the extreme tracks which stay in your memory are always assembled with thought and attention to detail… rather than being just a collection of random riffs.

After the very first listen, it becomes clear that Absent Mortality (2026) is the result of all these elements.

Take Midnight Demigod as an example – the lead single the band released at the end of 2025. Using contrast as a compositional tool with exceptional skill, the musicians effortlessly throw in pauses and sharp mood shifts to build a kind of climax that can be confidently chanted even by fans who are only just discovering their work. That “Midnight Demigod!” scream by frontman Kalin Kolev (vocals, guitar) is repeated exactly twice, with sufficiently long buildup – first to pleasantly surprise you halfway through the track, and the second time to make sure you’re ready to scream it at the top of your lungs at the end. This isn’t accidental; it’s the result of surgically precise calculation.

And although this particular track contains slightly more contemporary elements than what we’re used to hearing from CONCRETE, don’t even think for a moment that the band’s status as pillars of old-school death metal could be shaken in any way. The evidence is plentiful – Fruition Of Decadence, a classic American-style slaughter with a deceptively mid-tempo opening (do you have any idea how heavy two and a half minutes can be?); or the meat grinder with a Bolt Thrower-esque transition, Apex Butchery, which takes no prisoners. Come to think of it, “half an hour in the incinerator” (as this album could be described) wouldn’t leave much to analyze either – but what do I know.

The impact of such a release is also greatly influenced by the production, entrusted to the band’s longtime associate Todor Voynski (Abaddon, Cryptic Tomb). The sound is honest and organic, as close as possible to the feeling of an intimate show in a sweaty club with hair and limbs flying in all directions, yet clean enough for us to clearly hear the overdriven strings of bassist Zhivko Stoyanov – without which it would be impossible to imagine CONCRETE’s sonic identity.

It is precisely in such a perfect sonic environment that Charnel Expulsion smashes the headbanger with a riff straight out of ’91, before launching into one of those bows to the ancient gods Cannibal Corpse that we all expect from this lineup. It’s a good thing that the ’91 riff returns several more times – you can tell it’s from a good year alright! In addition to killer technique in the transitions, the second half storms in with a fantastic guitar solo, harmonized à la Chuck Schuldiner.

Inversion Of Grace also offers plenty of variety, including hardcore techniques (whether by coincidence – or perhaps because the Harcore city of Varna is still nearby), alternating with the familiar jackhammers we already know. Around the middle section, Morbid Angel arrive with their occult dissonance… and millions of innocent souls perish. For some reason, this is also the composition that, in my mind, creates the strongest connection to the creatures on the cover of Absent Mortality – once again a result of the band’s long-standing symbiosis with artist Angel Ivanov.

When the machine-gun fire of Eternity Renounced subsides and the verse grooves arrive, CONCRETE almost manage to fool us into thinking they’re stepping into the rock ’n’ roll territories of Six Feet Under. Alas, the omnipresent “Eeee” is missing – but the dark ideas are still there until the brutality returns. And that brutality, much like the hypergalactic blast beats of Pavlin Nikolov (drums), has never really left and continues to be the backbone of the band.

Blood Upon the Necronomicon is one of my personal favorites, with its thrashy main riff, dive bombs, and (seemingly) chaotic soloing toward the end – enough to make me go looking for another pair of stretch jeans. After all, with age, it’s no longer certain I could squeeze into the old ones without looking like an overstuffed sausage… My opinion is further reinforced by a motif that reminds me strongly of an extremely brutalized take on Agent Orange by Sodom. Absolute cult – and mandatory for the band’s future live performances.

The closing track Volatile Skin is a thoroughly fitting finale with an open ending, demonstrating just how far the Shumen lads can go in their compositional decisions – first through the accents with the unusual, almost “broken” kick-and-snare rhythm and the sharp shifts between sections, but also through the guitar arrangements by Kalin and his brother-in-arms Petar Dimitrov (guitar), which could even be likened to techniques from classical music. Trust me – the hypnotic, fragmented riff lurking in the shadows will not leave you alone for a long time.

On its own, Absent Mortality is not an album that will shake the genre to its foundations on a global scale. Instead, it stands solidly in its place as true proof that when a band knows its roots and isn’t afraid to nurture them – not only with creativity, but also with the experience and discipline accumulated over the years, the result can never be accidental. It’s no coincidence that CONCRETE are unofficially, yet widely recognized as one of Bulgarian death metal’s finest – a position this album inevitably reinforces.

If you’re still expecting a rating – in my book it is 666.

Anton “Torden” Andonov