Style: Complex and dissonant black metal
Primary Emotions/Themes: Sitting in a pew praying to whatever god will hear your cries only for silence to fall upon your pleas
Thoughts: Oh great, another dissonant black metal album. I forgot I had this one and was not looking forward to listening to it. I don't remember anything about it other than it was black metal and that it was quite dissonant when I heard it last. That was three to four years ago. Let's see what secrets Ascension has to offer.
First things first, there is another key component to this album that I forgot about: the atmosphere. It's not only dissonant, but it is also highly religious in nature. It does this in a unique way as well. Normally this is pulled off with Gregorian chants or prayer or chants... really anything that can be considered overtly religious. Ascension do it almost entirely through song structure and production.
To say that this was a surprise will be the understatement of the week. This album went from being something that I was dreading to listen to to one that has stayed on repeated listens for over a day now. These songs have such a haunting atmosphere, and they do it in such a novel way that I find myself coming back to it over and over again.
The band has no gimmicks, no frills, only guitar, bass, drums and vocals. Everything is done within the context of those traditions. The guitars build the basis for everything. They create a deep, resonant sound that fills up my room much like a worship service would in a church. The riffs are full and walk that razor thin line of dissonance and melody nearly to perfection. They know when to be ferocious, they know when to be atmospheric. They know what to do and when, they know how to transition from one facet of the song to the next... in short they are written expertly.
The drums and bass fill out the bottom end of the music and compliment the riffs in a way where everything is in perfect symbiosis. The guitars would not work without the rhythm section, and the rhythm section would not work without the guitars. This leaves the vocals.
The vocals are the one thing on the album that is "fine." They don't stand out for good or bad. While they are dynamic, they don't particularly evoke much emotion out of me. They work for what they are, but the real star of the show here is the rest of the band.
It's hard for me to quantify how well this formula works. The band has figured out how to create something so incredibly evocative without the use of crutches many other bands in this space do. This is black metal in it's purest form and by confining themselves to these tenants they have set themselves free.
Written April 16th 2024
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