Post by Deleted on Jan 27, 2016 15:55:39 GMT -6
Day of Ascension - The Absurd Masquerade
Year: 2015
Genre: Black Metal
Day of Ascension presents us with refreshing, pure, cold American black metal. This four-track EP was re-released by Revived by Light towards the end of 2015, and it certainly doesn't disappoint.
The band manages to avoid all the traps that the more traditional black metal bands can frequently fall into: monotony, underproduction, and ultra-minimalistic riffs. They vary their music enough to keep it entertaining and enthralling for all four songs - something that a surprising number of bands have trouble with. Most of the variety is within the tempo and general feeling of the songs. The opening track, "A New Year Dawns", begins fast and furious, but slows down towards the middle. "Illusions of Strength" stays mid-tempo, and "Golgotha" slows things to a doom-like pace. The closing track, "Night Bells", brings things back to mid-tempo once again, but slows down in the middle for an acoustic, atmospheric section with minimal keyboards. Other variety is achieved with the vocals in "Golgotha". The band ditches the growling for the majority of the song in favor of deep, clean vocals, and it sounds great. It matches the doomy atmosphere of the track perfectly and creates a fantastic mood.
The riffs are fantastic throughout, no matter what the tempo is. They're definitely the most minimalistic in "Golgotha", though they're still interesting enough to keep my attention and be entertaining. In the faster tracks, particularly "A New Year Dawns", there are often two or three layers of tremolo riffs going on at the same time, creating really nice complexity. I really like it when bands do that, especially when the music is well-produced enough that you can pick out the individual layers. That's the case here. I can identify what each guitar is doing and listen closely as they interact, making an awesome mix of melody and counter-melody. At times, the riffs can get a little too repetitive, but the quality of them is so high that it doesn't really bother me. Just as I start to get slightly annoyed, they switch to a different riff and everything's cool again.
The quality of the growled vocals is superb. There's not much of a pitch range there, but the pitch that he does use works perfectly. The drumming works very well for this style of black metal. He typically blastbeats during the faster sections and slows things down when the songs reach mid-tempo. This creates for some head-boppy and foot-tappy moments from time to time, particularly in the middle section of "A New Year Dawns". The drums could have been mixed slightly better though. I feel that the cymbals are sometimes a little too loud (especially during blastbeats) and the bass drum is too quiet.
This is a very solid slice of pure, traditional black metal that I listen to quite frequently. "Golgotha" is the definite highlight here (simply because of its fantastic take on black/doom), though the other three tracks are good as well.
84/100
-CrimsonWarrior
Buy it from Revived by Light:
www.discogs.com/sell/item/302547727
Year: 2015
Genre: Black Metal
Day of Ascension presents us with refreshing, pure, cold American black metal. This four-track EP was re-released by Revived by Light towards the end of 2015, and it certainly doesn't disappoint.
The band manages to avoid all the traps that the more traditional black metal bands can frequently fall into: monotony, underproduction, and ultra-minimalistic riffs. They vary their music enough to keep it entertaining and enthralling for all four songs - something that a surprising number of bands have trouble with. Most of the variety is within the tempo and general feeling of the songs. The opening track, "A New Year Dawns", begins fast and furious, but slows down towards the middle. "Illusions of Strength" stays mid-tempo, and "Golgotha" slows things to a doom-like pace. The closing track, "Night Bells", brings things back to mid-tempo once again, but slows down in the middle for an acoustic, atmospheric section with minimal keyboards. Other variety is achieved with the vocals in "Golgotha". The band ditches the growling for the majority of the song in favor of deep, clean vocals, and it sounds great. It matches the doomy atmosphere of the track perfectly and creates a fantastic mood.
The riffs are fantastic throughout, no matter what the tempo is. They're definitely the most minimalistic in "Golgotha", though they're still interesting enough to keep my attention and be entertaining. In the faster tracks, particularly "A New Year Dawns", there are often two or three layers of tremolo riffs going on at the same time, creating really nice complexity. I really like it when bands do that, especially when the music is well-produced enough that you can pick out the individual layers. That's the case here. I can identify what each guitar is doing and listen closely as they interact, making an awesome mix of melody and counter-melody. At times, the riffs can get a little too repetitive, but the quality of them is so high that it doesn't really bother me. Just as I start to get slightly annoyed, they switch to a different riff and everything's cool again.
The quality of the growled vocals is superb. There's not much of a pitch range there, but the pitch that he does use works perfectly. The drumming works very well for this style of black metal. He typically blastbeats during the faster sections and slows things down when the songs reach mid-tempo. This creates for some head-boppy and foot-tappy moments from time to time, particularly in the middle section of "A New Year Dawns". The drums could have been mixed slightly better though. I feel that the cymbals are sometimes a little too loud (especially during blastbeats) and the bass drum is too quiet.
This is a very solid slice of pure, traditional black metal that I listen to quite frequently. "Golgotha" is the definite highlight here (simply because of its fantastic take on black/doom), though the other three tracks are good as well.
84/100
-CrimsonWarrior
Buy it from Revived by Light:
www.discogs.com/sell/item/302547727