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Ascend: Ample fire within

26/02/09 || Khlysty

Seing as this is a collaboration between Gentry Densley (Iceburn) and Greg Anderson (Sunn0))), Goatsnake), I was expecting great slabs of drone to suffocate my being and the universe in general. So, I suppose you can imagine my surprise when I finished listening to “Ample Fire Within”; because, even though the mighty drone is present, it’s not done in the usual, stark-‘n’-ugly way, but it’s being fucked with, in ways most impressive and satisfying.

As per usual, besides Densley in vocals and guitar and Anderson in bass and guitar, there’s an impressive number of collaborators here, that add important layers and nuance on the core duo’s basic m.o. So, we got Steve Moore (of Earth) on trombone, keys and synths, Andy Patterson on drums, Bill Herzog, Don McGreevy and Randall Dunn on percussion and other shit -and three most welcome surprises: Attila Csihar on vocals and Bubba Dupree and Kim Thayil on guitars (more on that later).

On the songwriting front, the first surprise comes from the manageable song lengths: the longest one lasts twelve and a half minutes, while the shortest comes at blink-and-you-missed-it four and a half minutes. Don’t know ‘bout you, but I think that the proceedings here are a bit more controllable than the 20-minute-droneathons that are the rule of thumb for Sunn 0))). Also, there’s a lot of stylistic experimentation going on, with the songs not moving always one way, but changing and morphing as the trudge along (if you’re a speed-demon, avoid this like holy water: it’s SLOW!).

The record starts off with “The Obelisk Of Kolob”, a massive drone, but fully enhanced by drums and a cool trombone, that give it an almost operatic, threatening tone. “Ample Fire Within” is a dark ambiance workout, with Attila adding his trademark vocalizing, sometimes done over with some serious distortion effect. The guitars come and go, sometimes just powering it up, others adding strange, ambient passages. Cool and menacing at the same time. “Divine” is a blues deconstruction that what reminds me the most is Nick Cave at his starkest and most paranoid, with Densley “singing” like a soapbox priest announcing the end of the world. His raspy baritone is impressive, injecting an already morose song with a healthy dose of psychosis.

And then we get to “V.O.G.”, with its tribal, almost funerary drumming, fragment of bagpipes (probably reeds), sitar, om-like droning, crazy percussion, stuttered guitar-and-bass, Densley’s chanted vocals and Thayil’s and Dupree’s soloing piercing the almost religious atmosphere of the song. The fucker goes on for more than ten minutes and it’s trance-inducing as fuck. More happy paranoia goes on in “Her Horse Is Thunder”, with native Americans’ samples and droning guitar, bass and organ at the background. Although there’s drums at one point, the ambiance of the track is strange, as if you’re watching a ceremony or something. And the record ends with “Dark Matter”, the most experimental of the batch: a slow beast with vocoded vocals, guitars on the verge of losing their shit, sometimes here, sometimes not here, sometimes replaced by a sitar. The song reaches a climax as it moves towards the end, with the drums coming in and the guitars hitting power chords with vengeance; one final crescendo, with shards of soloing hitting you like hailstones and Densley screaming and… it’s over.

I hate doing song-by-song reviews, but with Ascend it’s almost unavoidable: their stylistic twists and turns need to be pointed out and reflected upon. But, make no mistake, this ain’t just a collection of disparate elements. The record has a “glue” (the drone), even though it spurts thorns towards each way it likes. Also – and that’s a big surprise! – it is approachable and pretty easy to digest, when compared with Sunn0)))‘s or Iceburn’s oeuvre. And, even though its heaviness quota is pretty high, having songs in manageable lengths helps a lot. Drone goes mainstream (yeah, you wish, you fucktards…)?…

8,5 boulders of sound out of 10 slowly cascading on you.

Information
Released: 2008
Label: Southern Lord
Website: southernlord.com/band_ASC
Band
Gentry Densley: vocals, guitar, sitar, percussion
Greg Anderson: bass, guitar, vocals
Andy Patterson: drums
Steve Moore: trombone, keyboards, synths, organ

Tracklist
01. The Obelisk Of Kolob
02. Ample Fire Within
03. Divine
04. V.O.G.
05. Her Horse Is Thunder
06. Dark Matter

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