All four members of ABSOLUTE DARKNESS contributed to Witness To A Dying World from the start, making the album the current lineup’s first fully collaborative writing project. Due October 23, 2026, the Bay Area death/thrash record is receiving an exclusive advance full-album stream through MetalInsider, according to the October 22 announcement from Asher Media Relations.
The change concerns how the songs took shape. Although Failure Of State introduced much of the present lineup, the announcement explains that substantial material for that record predated the established configuration. For Witness To A Dying World, guitarist and lead vocalist Ron Dorn, lead guitarist and backing vocalist Douglas Vetter II, bassist Orson Sojo and drummer Scott Russell each contributed significantly from the beginning.
“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.
The announcement describes a combination of Bay Area thrash, melodic death metal and traditional death metal, with harmonized guitars, solos and changing arrangements supporting the songs. ABSOLUTE DARKNESS enlisted engineer Harry Ahlas for the recording, building on production lessons from earlier releases.
“The album is aggressive, energetic, and doesn't let up for very long. 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,” Dorn explains. “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.”
Those lyrics approach corruption, propaganda, authoritarianism, war, addiction, homelessness and societal decline through character-driven narratives. The supplied announcement identifies warfare as the subject of “Attritional Warfare,” while “Snake Oil” addresses the tragedy of the opioid epidemic. That storytelling focus carries the band’s political and social concerns into individual perspectives.
A cover of Vio-lence’s “World In A World” closes the ten-track record. Dorn connects the choice to growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area and attending shows while Vio-lence, Death Angel and Forbidden were rising local bands. The song, from Vio-lence’s Oppressing the Masses era, was chosen as a personal tribute to that background.
“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 says. “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 announced 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 “World In A World” (4:13). The release lists an overall album length of 38:21.
Album orders are available through the band’s Bandcamp page. The promotional band photograph accompanying the announcement is credited to Eddie Granillo.