You’ll Never Believe Who Just Joined The Absence

When The Absence announced the departure of guitarist Peter Joseph earlier this month, I kind of imagined that Joseph’s eventual replacement would be, y’know, someone from the band’s local scene in Florida, and not, say a member of a well-established Swedish melodeath band. So it is with what I guess might be best described as “elated befuddlement” that the band has announced that Scar Symmetry axeman Per Nilsson has joined their ranks. “Befuddlement” because, like I said, never woulda picked Nilsson for the new guy, and elated because, well Nilsson!

Nilsson has actually worked with The Absence before — he did a guest solo on the song “The Murder” from 2007’s Riders of Plague. Here’s a statement from the man himself:

“Six years ago the guys asked me to do a guest solo for the ‘Riders’ album and we’ve been friends ever since. I’ve followed their career as a fan and when they reached out asking me to join the band, it was a no-brainer. I am super excited to be a part of The Absence family; we’ve been jamming out some new tunes and I feel like we’ve got some killer stuff in the works for ya! Between Patrick and me, there’s gonna be some INSANE guitar shreddin’ on the new tunes!”

I do not doubt that last statement one bit. My excitement level for The Absence’s new EP, which is currently being recorded with producer James Murphy, has certainly been raised now. And if this means a Scar Symmetry/The Absence tour, well… yeah I’m already there.

Here’s the aforementioned “The Murder,” so you can get a small taste of what these dudes might have in store for us:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7F4sU0uC-tw

I’m on board!

[via Lambgoat]