An advance full-album stream through MetalInsider introduces ABSOLUTE DARKNESS’ Witness To A Dying World ahead of its October 23, 2026 release. The Bay Area death/thrash band’s announcement presents ten tracks written collaboratively by its current four-member lineup, including a cover of Vio-lence’s “World In A World.”
Guitarist and lead vocalist Ron Dorn identifies the writing process as a change from Failure Of State, whose material largely preceded the establishment of the current lineup. On Witness To A Dying World, each member contributed from the outset. “This is the first album written by our current lineup from the ground up. Everyone contributed ideas throughout the writing process, and the songs benefited from having four people shaping them instead of one,” Dorn says in the announcement supplied by Asher Media Relations.
The band describes the record as drawing on thrash, melodic death metal and traditional death metal, with harmonized guitars, solos, dynamic arrangements and exchanges between vocal parts. Engineer Harry Ahlas worked with ABSOLUTE DARKNESS on the recording. Dorn emphasizes the individual musical elements within the songs: “We worked hard to make sure every song had something memorable, whether it’s a riff, a guitar harmony, a solo, or the back-and-forth vocal parts.”
The lyrical subjects include corruption, propaganda, authoritarianism, war, addiction, homelessness and societal decline. According to the announcement, these themes appear through character-driven narratives. “Attritional Warfare” addresses war, while “Snake Oil” portrays the tragedy of the opioid epidemic. Dorn adds: “I want people to enjoy the music first and then, if they choose to dig deeper, there’s another layer to discover in the lyrics.”
Closing track “World In A World” connects the album to Dorn’s experience of the Bay Area thrash scene. He recalls attending shows as Vio-lence, Death Angel and Forbidden were emerging local bands, and identifies the Vio-lence song from the Oppressing the Masses era as a personal favorite. His stated approach was to preserve the original while using modern recording technology.
“When we decided to record ‘World In A World,’ my goal wasn’t to reinvent it. I wanted to stay as faithful to the original as possible while taking advantage of modern recording technology,” Dorn explains. “The goal was never to improve on the original, just to celebrate a song that meant a lot to me growing up in the Bay Area while putting our own stamp on it.”
The supplied running order is “Above The Law” (3:56), “Attritional Warfare” (3:50), “World Decay” (3:28), “Snake Oil” (4:14), “Different Illegally” (3:33), “Loyalty To Me” (3:32), “I Guess I Die” (3:59), “Big Lies” (3:51), “Extreme Accountability” (3:34) and the Vio-lence cover “World In A World” (4:13).
ABSOLUTE DARKNESS’ lineup comprises Dorn on rhythm guitar and lead vocals, Douglas Vetter II on lead guitar and backing vocals, Orson Sojo on bass, and Scott Russell on drums. The band photograph supplied with the announcement is credited to Eddie Granillo.
Album orders are available through the band’s supplied Bandcamp page.
