Review / 200 Words Or Less
This Door to Remain Closed During Work Hours
Achieve Albeit an Absence

Independent (2006) Tohm

This Door to Remain Closed During Work Hours – Achieve Albeit an Absence cover artwork
This Door to Remain Closed During Work Hours – Achieve Albeit an Absence — Independent, 2006

This Door to Remain Closed During Work Hours sounds like a jam band who shows their metal influences every once in a while. The repetition of a jam band is there, but there's no soloing. In that case, I'll just call it boring music. Achieve Albeit an Absence could also be an attempt at post-rock; it turned out too mellow and too slow. There are pretty melodic parts, I'll give them that, but the music rarely changes during a song. All but one of the six songs is over ten minutes. I expected epic tracks when I saw the song lengths but I was let down instead. This Door To Remain Closed During Work Hours reminds me of a local band from Anywhere, USA that never quite makes it out of local venues and never quite exceeds a fan base of close friends. It sounds like they recorded Achieve Albeit an Absence in one take and didn't care about its sloppiness.

3.5 / 10Tohm • December 31, 2007

This Door to Remain Closed During Work Hours – Achieve Albeit an Absence cover artwork
This Door to Remain Closed During Work Hours – Achieve Albeit an Absence — Independent, 2006

Recently-posted album reviews

Palette Knife

Keyframe
Take This To Heart Records (2026)

There’s a fine line between being a quirky emo band with scene references and something that actually sticks. On Keyframe, Columbus trio Palette Knife don’t just flirt with that line but sharpen it, name it after a Final Fantasy item, and build ten huge choruses around it. The band’s self-described “Nerd-Core-Mid-West-Emo” tag could easily read like a gimmick, but this … Read more

The Downstrokes

The Furious Hours
Independent (2026)

There is a specific kind of sultry, salty sweat that only happens in a room with low ceilings and a tube amp screaming a warm hum for forgiveness. You can smell the lingering kerosene and the stale beer on The Downstrokes’ latest LP, The Furious Hours, before the needle even hits the groove. It’s the sound of a band that … Read more

The Arrivals

Payload
Recess (2026)

It's been a short lifetime since the last Arrivals record, Volatile Molotov, but in many ways the new Payload picks up exactly where the last one left off. It straddles the mid-tempo punk spectrum while drawing influence from seemingly all realms of the rock 'n' roll cannon. I'd state that mod, power-pop, Brit Invasion, and even R&B are some of … Read more