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Ancient Ascendant: Into the dark

04/02/13 || Ironpants

Sometimes you feel that you´ve struck gold…

I spend a lot of time in front of the computer with an empty stare. Just sitting there, clicking on links from friends (imaginary, that is), or just stabbing at YouTube´s many related links and always end up looking at someone building a full replica of Buckingham Palace with toothpicks or maybe even ”Best knockouts of midget boxing” or some other weird shit.

But sometimes it pays off and now and then you hit the jackpot!

I clicked on a video with Ancient Ascendants for the song ”Driven by the dark”.
Holy fuckcakes with cream and sugar on top. That riff got stuck and echoed in my head for days. I had to get me some info on these U.K. hooligans.

It´s only five songs on this little rascal, well four actually, as the first is an intro.
The intro is a beautiful minute length composition that reeks of Opeth all the way and the rest of the music presented is a nice blend of all the fine pieces from death, thrash, heavy and black metal. The vocals varies from a kind of hissing growl á la Jeff Walker (Carcass / ”Heartwork” era) to a darker growling where he almost sounds a bit like Peter in Vader or Jan-Kris De Koeyer in Gorefest. Excellent voice handling. No clean singing though, don´t let the fact that I actually mentioned Opeth fool you, and thats a good thing. Every other band that uses clean singing and is somewhat progressive, immediately gets connected with Opeth, and that´s not the case here (well maybe a little bit, but hey!).

AA also manage to present a competent rhythm section with excellent drumming and superb bass handling. Drummerboy Dave seldom (or never) falls into the death metal transportation technique of 2/4, wich gives a star in my book (ah…progressive?). Le bassiste, Alan, is allowed to shine through quite often, and so he does when he gets the chance. You should never underestimate the power of bass! The guitars play well together, and I guess they spend some time actually developing the riffs with some parts of the brain activated as they go along. It´s melodic, but never falls down the melo-death trap.

As extra semen on this delicious cake, I also discovered that Dan Swanö is involved as a ”mixterer” (thats mastering and mixing for you non believers), and by then, you know that it is not some random shit going on here. The production is all good and swell and everything is allowed to enter the stage and take it´s place in the spotlight when needed.

Here´s a small walkthrough of the disco music these Reading hoodlums bring to the dancefloor.

”The veil” – Action: Foreplay system activated. Result: Receiver pleased.
”Blood Calls” – A midtempo tune with a somewhat black metal melody structure.
”Driven by the Dark” – The main riff is one of the best riffs I´ve heard in death metal for a while, it´s groovy and produces a fair amount of headnodding and heavy stomping of feet.
”Casting the Shroud Aside” – Features a lot of double bass, but allows some grind and also a lot of progressive parts.
”Under Ancient Stone” – A fast beginning, but it evolves to mid-tempo and later on to classic heavy metal, I cracked a big smile during the last minute of the song. Awesome heavy metal riffing!

These guys are competent, there´s no bullshitting here. If they present a full length album in this style, we have ourselves a new band to pledge our allegiance to. The only drawback I can actually think of, is that it isn’t a full length album, I want more!

Get it while it´s hot!!

Information
Released: 2012
Label: Forepoint Records
Website: www.ancientascendant.com
Band
Alex Butler: vocals, guitar
Nariman Poushin: guitar
Alan Webb: bass
Dave Moulding: drums

Tracklist
01. The veil
02. Blood calls
03. Driven by the dark
04. Casting the shroud aside
05. Under ancient stone

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