I had ABSOLON confused with another band when I requested that our music dividers send "A Portrait Of Madness" to me. Ah, well, shit happens. But then again, have I got any reason to regret the fact that the music of this band from Orlando in Florida has ended up in my inbox, and is now playing through my PC speakers? No, not at all, as I do find this quite alright. Aha, you, just quite alright? To be frank, yes, that is as far as I will get in my assessment of the music that is being played on "A Portrait Of Madness".

ABSOLON is actually classed as a band that uses Christianity as their main source of topic. Does that bother me? No, not really, as I have a number of what used to be called White Metal albums in my collection. So, it doesn't bother me, as long as the music is good and fitting for the lyrical content at hand. And that is exactly where my reservations lie as far as ABSOLON are concerned,

The vocal ministrations of Ken Pike are very pleasant. He isn't exactly a world class singer, due to his limited range, but he also does know what his limitations are and is very capable of working within them, making his vocals as fitting as possible. Unfortunately he is faced with musical endeavours that are very plain, very straight forward/ that should have to be a problem, as for the fact that I find it becoming quite boring really quickly.

And yes, that is my problem, and it might not be yours. This is just not special enough for me. Which is a pity, as I was hoping that after their debut album "Darkness Rising: The Tale Of Derek Blackheart", which was released in 2013, they would have had enough time to lift their musical qualities far higher for "A Portrait Of Madness" than I am experiencing right now. And I say this a lot, but it is how I feel; no, this is NOT a bad album by ABSOLON. Maybe I put my expectations too high. For that I apologise. As a conclusion I can say that if love straight forward Heavy Metal with a few Prof influences, and don't mind Christian themes, please give "A Portrait Of Madness" a chance. Let's hope you are more appreciative of the endeavours it houses.