ABSENCE OF THE SACRED (2005 - Present)

began in 2005 after the demise of Mia’s previous band DISDAIN. She was introduced to Hans Yamin (drums/keys) at a show, and the pair decided to work on music together. Due to their mutual musical preferences, it was easy for Hans to understand Mia’s vision for the songs she wrote and collaborate effectively with her; they recorded the first ABSENCE OF THE SACRED demo Deadening the Dispirited at a student-run recording studio, with Mia on guitars/vocals and Hans on bass/drums. Justin Tan was recruited on bass shortly after the demo was out, and the band went on to record their debut full-length album Atrocities That Birthed Abominations at Focal Pro Audio Solutions with local engineer Joe Foo in late 2005 to 2006.

Atrocities… went on to garner significant praise from radio stations and zines from around the globe, as well as appealing to thousands of fans on Myspace. The band was offered to play at BUSAN OPEN AIR in South Korea as well as one of the first few HELLFEST festivals in France, however the band lacked the funds to tour that far, and opted to focus playing more local and regional shows instead. With the addition of Darren Chua on lead guitars, they recorded the Promo 2007 EP along with a music video for the song Dawn of a Dead Aeon. Justin departed from the band due to familial reasons, and Mike Kalember (RAVEN BITCH) joined the band on bass. The band recorded their second full-length album Era of the Apostate in 2008, which was released under VRYKOBLAST PRODUCTIONS. The band went on to promote the album by headlining local shows as well as BOOMERSTORM FESTIVAL in Chiang Mai (one of the earliest Metal festivals held there) and opening for DEFILED (JP) at the iconic BANG-COCK DEATHFEST in Bangkok, Thailand.

ABSENCE OF THE SACRED parted ways with their drummer Hans in 2009 due to creative differences, and got Kevin Talley (DYING FETUS, MISERY INDEX, DAATH) on board for the recording of their third full-length album Come Hither O Herald of Death. Recorded in Singapore and the US, with guest appearances by members of CHTHONIC, SPEARHEAD (UK) and DAWN OF AZAZEL, this album was supposed to be their magnum opus. Unfortunately due to personal problems, the person who mixed the album delayed the release by 3 years and screwed up the mix; he refused to give the original files back to Mia as she wanted it mixed by someone else, threatening to delete everything if she continued to ask for it. In the end, it was sent to HERTZ STUDIO in Poland to be mastered and there was little they could do to fix the damage done. The album was eventually released in 2012 under SONIC BLAST MEDIA, and garnered mostly mixed reviews due to the nature of the mix. The band performed locally to promote the album, and went on with their friends in RUDRA to co-headline COLOMBO OPEN AIR, the first music festival in Colombo, Sri Lanka since the end of the Sri Lankan Civil War (1983 - 2009) at the CR & FC Stadium Complex. As Kevin’s based in the US, Ziyang Chua (FERAL AGE, SANITY OBSCURE, PSYCHO) stepped in as a session live drummer for a few local shows as well as the Sri Lankan festival. The band then recruited Vijesh Ghariwala (WORMROT, CODE ERROR, OSHIEGO) as their new full-time drummer.

After performing at several local fests and shows, ABSENCE OF THE SACRED started working on their fourth release between 2013 and 2014. However due to financial constraints, the fourth release was abandoned after the guitars and rough vocal tracks were recorded. Mia decided to put ABSENCE OF THE SACRED on hiatus as she was moving to Cambodia. During this time, Mike moved to the Philippines, Vijesh joined WORMROT full-time and Darren focused on his work.

In 2023, Darren and Mia decided to finish off the fourth release as their former recording studio I.P.A.B. PRODUCTIONS gave the incomplete album back to them. Lyrics and themes were re-written, vocals were recorded and new members were recruited, resulting in the final line-up of Mia, Darren, Emanuel Salgado (ISKALD, NIGHTEVIL) on bass and Kevin Paradis (BENIGHTED, NE OBLIVISCARIS) on drums. Their fourth release titled IV: The Hand That Wounds will be out in the summer of 2024, featuring Singaporean mech gore maestro MICROCHIP TERROR on the intro and outro tracks.