Holding Absence

The Greatest Mistake Of My Life

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Genre: Post-hardcore, Alternative Rock, Emo.
Released: 16/04/2021
Via SharpTone Records

Album Review: Holding Absence – The Greatest Mistake Of My Life

Welsh rockers Holding Absence are back with the follow up to their 2019 self-titled debut. The name of the new album ‘The Greatest Mistake Of My Life’ was inspired by a 1930s track of the same name, by actor and singer Dame Gracie Fields. Vocalist Lucas found out from his grandmother that his great uncle covered the song during the 1950s – something the frontman repeats on this album.

We are welcomed to the album with ‘Awake’, filled with gentle strings and piano melody, it serves as an anticipation filled build up to ‘Celebration Song’ which kicks in with Lucas’ vocals screaming “I’m alive”, with rich guitar tones and an impactful drumbeat, which keep the song marching forward. The “I’m alive” chorus for this track makes you want to scream along after the first listen. We get our first glimpse of the album’s reflective nature in this song with lyrics like “I lived to see today, I lost so much along the way”, but despite this the song sounds hopeful. I could easily see this song being used on a movie soundtrack.

The album then flows into ‘Curse Me With Your Kiss’, which is a track reflecting on ‘the one that got away’ with lyrics like “I remember the crack in your voice, When you said, “I’m leaving”, Just another lover that left me”. The track features some great drumming from Ashley Green, which forces the track to keep racing forward, before slowing off towards the end. The track comes in at a good length. Single ‘Afterlight’ then bounces in with some tasty riffs from Scott Carey, alongside some growly vocals from Lucas. With the infectious chorus you just can’t help but sing along to this one. It stays fresh as it bounces along throughout the track, changing towards the end to some more acoustic stylings before breaking back into it’s plugged in nature. I feel this will be great to catch live.

‘Drugs and Love’ is introduced to us with a short spoken word intro as the song builds up behind it. Talking about turning to substances to try and remedy your problems, the darker lyrics are matched by an equally darker sonic performance. The track is slower than that before it and relies heavily on Lucas’ vocals to keep it advancing. Unfortunately the next track, ‘In Circles’, ends up going in circles too much for my likings, ending up being very repetitive and boring. I guess that’s the point, speaking about the monotony of everyday life, but at almost five mins it loses my interest on repeat listenings of the album. If there’s one redeeming feature of this track, James Joseph’s bassline is ace.

Thankfully we then get some gold with ‘Nomoreroses’ feeling very akin to Architects, Lucas’ raspy screams throughout compliment the acoustic guitar used to back the track. It feels very grand and impressive, and I almost wonder if a full orchestral version would do the song more justice. This is definitely one of the highlights across the album, and is another I’d love to catch live. ‘Beyond Belief’ pumps an adrenaline shot of energy into the album, with thumping drums and complementary guitar riff. This was the first single the band released for this album and it’s easy to see why, it’s got a really memorable chorus, and flows really well. Another track that’s worth checking out.

We get a slower moment on the record with ‘Die Alone (In Your Lover’s Arms)’, starting with another spoken word piece, backed by a soft piano, before the thoughtful mix of instruments makes itself present. The track talks about the loneliness two people feel within a relationship that has long-turned sour. On the track we hear Lucas’ sister, Caitlin Woodland, taking up the role of one side of the relationship. This leads to some really nice harmonies and rounds on the track. Both Caitlin and Lucus put out an amazing performance on this track.

‘Phantoms’ is a spoken word piece that acts like a prolonged intro to the gargantuan ‘Mourning Song’, which comes in at 7:00 minutes long. The band fills that time well, with the song constantly mutating throughout to provide just enough of a change as it goes along to keep it from becoming stale and boring. The song sounds grand using strings which make the rest of the instruments pop. It’s very strange for an album to have it’s title track be a cover, but that’s what we get here. Despite it’s more rough sounding nature – trying to mimic the crackling 1930’s sound of the original – it doesn’t feel out of place on the album. It makes for a very meaningful end to such a great second release from the band.

‘The Greatest Mistake Of My Life’ is certainly not that for the band. It’s hard to believe this is only the second release from Holding Absence. There’s a lot of good on this album and it’s definitely worth a listen. I look forward to hopefully getting to see these guys perform some of these tracks live when we get concerts back.