(written by Islander)
This makes the fourth time in a nine-year period when we’ve had the extreme pleasure of premiering music by Ashen Horde, and this time it’s a song from their forthcoming fifth album, The Harvest, which is set for release on May 1st.
In one of those previous premieres we wrote that “Ashen Horde have demonstrated an adventurous spirit, with an ever-evolving amalgam of genre influences and no real interest in boxing themselves in.” Over and over again they’ve blended together such ingredients as technical death metal, black metal, and flares of prog metal with often unexpected but reliably breathtaking results — and as you’re about to discover, they’re still marching flying to the beat of their own drummer.
The band’s founder, Los Angeles-based musician Trevor Portz, is still in charge, once more accompanied by Australian drummer Robin Stone (The Amenta, Convulsing) and vocalist Karl Chamberlain (Putrefier, Alcyone, Necrotic Remains), who surfaced on the band’s 2024 EP Decayed and now makes his first full-length Ashen Horde appearance.
Unlike previous records, The Harvest isn’t a concept album, but the songs are still connected. As Trevor Portz has explained, “I didn’t have a single story this time, but the lyrics kept circling reactions to things ending. From societal collapse to ancient rituals to the last days of Pompeii, everything tied together naturally.”
We’ll also share this album overview from the press materials, which provides a good idea about The Harvest’s musical twists and turns:
Musically, the album is a showcase of the band’s eclectic influences. From the opening track, “Autumnal”, a slow-burning ascent into full black‑metal fury, inspired by the Sensorio light installation in Paso Robles. “Backward Momentum” blends Opeth‑style clean‑vocal layering with 90s‑rock riffing and one of Portz’s favorite solos on the album. “Voids in the Ash” pairs grunge‑inflected vocal harmonies with hyperspeed black‑metal bursts, telling the story of Pompeii from both mortal and divine perspectives. “The Apparition” channels early death metal before spiraling into odd‑meter prog weirdness. The title track, “The Harvest,” closes the album with an apocalyptic vision inspired by Iceland’s stark landscapes and the album’s striking cover art.
One song not mentioned in that precis is the one we’re premiering today, through an attention-seizing video, as the album’s first single — “Entropy and Ecstasy“. It follows a couple who thrive on the chaos of a world falling apart, a concept Portz admits was likely sparked by the early COVID lockdowns:
“This song, which we chose as the first single and shot a video for, is about a couple who, instead of being terrified by the world collapsing around them, get a thrill from it. I don’t remember what initially sparked the idea, but it’s fair to assume the initial Covid lockdowns had something to do with it! I thought the music, which definitely takes some influence from Voivod, reflected both the chaos of the outside world and the bizarre passion of the couple. This was also the song Karl used for his ‘audition.’ I sent him a demo with some unfinished lyrics, and he sent back his take on it. I was immediately blown away. His vocals on the core melody, ‘how can we thrive if we expect to survive?’ give me chills every time I hear them.”
The song captures this dichotomy of collapse and exhilaration — of entropy and ecstasy — through a fast-spinning (and head-spinning) kaleidoscope of sound. The moods of the music change along the way, but even the relatively slower and more desolate passages include inventive and intriguing nuances.
Karl Chamberlain’s remarkably multi-faceted voice is a perfect match for the remarkably multi-faceted nature of the music. He expels brutal death metal gutturals and ripping black metal screams, but he also sends his singing voice in ravishing upward arcs that are spine-tingling to hear, and down into gloomy troughs.
As for the surrounding music, it’s intricate and exhilarating, especially when the band are in full flight, discharging rapidly darting and maniacally swirling notes, incendiary bursts of tremolo’d delirium, or riffing that feverishly slashes with vicious, serrated edges. In less frantic phases, the music dismally groans and throbs, creating a pall of desolation, even when Chamberlain’s voice might be reaching for the clouds.
The fretwork also includes angular progressions that generate moods of disorientation and fearfulness, and the song further includes an astonishing guitar solo that all by itself seems to capture the song’s thematic dichotomy of collapse and jubilation.
Perhaps needless to say, Robin Stone’s drumming is as constantly changing as everything else, and surgically crafted to match all the other head-spinning, pulse-pounding, and heart-sinking twists in this shapeshifter of a song.
The accompanying video directed by Kyle Lamar/Digital Myle represents a major milestone for the band: Despite recording the entire album remotely, this is the first time the members have appeared together on camera. And you will see them, in sudden flashes of their performance from a multitude of angles, along with a narrative of the afore-mentioned couple, who are frightened and perplexed by devastating events outside their hidden room, but also manage to find resilience and a strange kind of carefree joy.
The Harvest was mixed by Ricardo Borges and mastered by Tony Lindgren at Fascination Street Studios. The album’s cover, featuring two red skeletons locked in an eerie, autumnal tableau, was created by artist Venus Kohana, whose work Portz discovered at an art show. As he says, “the imagery’s blend of beauty, decay, and ritual perfectly mirrors the album’s themes.”
For more info about Ashen Horde and The Harvest, and to pre-save and pre-order, see the kinks below. Also below you’ll find dates for upcoming Ashen Horde shows in May.
PRE-SAVE:
https://show.co/z0ZVdF9
PRE-ORDER:
https://ashenhorde.bandcamp.com/album/the-harvest
FOLLOW:
https://www.facebook.com/AshenHorde/
https://www.instagram.com/ashenhorde
TOUR DATES:
May 14 – Montclair, NJ – The Meatlocker
May 15 – Wallingford, CT – Cherry Street Station
May 16 – Brattleboro, VT – Midnight’s