ASHEN – LEAVE THE FLESH BEHIND

(Andy Synn continues to be the biggest advocate of Australian Death Metallers Ashen here at NCS)

Let me ask you something… do you ever feel out of step with the (music) world?

I mean, I know we all do at some time, that’s a given, but every so often something comes along to really drive home to me how the bands I want to be bigger and more successful in the Metal scene (particularly the Death Metal scene) are rarely the ones who receive the biggest push.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a bit of Undeath, Gatecreeper, and 200 Stab Wounds now and then, but I’d be much happier to see the likes of Baest (whose new album I reviewed last week), Tribal Gaze (whose upcoming second album, Inveighing Brilliance, was just announced) and Ashen receive the same level of attention.

But, let’s face it, there’s probably a reason I’m not an A&R guy, since I’m demonstrably terrible at assessing which bands are going to be the most marketable and most successful… although I’ve still got a pretty big platform here, and if I can use it to get some more of you to jump onboard the Ashen bandwagon in advance of their upcoming second album (out next week on Redefining Darkness) then I’ll consider it a job well done.

One thing that has always stood out to me about Ashen‘s approach to Death Metal – and which helped make their first album, Ritual of Ash, one of my favourite Death Metal albums of 2023, – was the sense that as much as they might revere and respect the “Old School” sound they’re not interested in just trying to replicate and recreate it wholesale (unlike some of their more popular peers).

Don’t get me wrong, the Aussie quartet aren’t trying to reinvent the proverbial wheel either – the grinding melodic grooves of Grave are clearly a major influence on crushingly catchy opener “Devourer”, for example, while the infectiously intense “Ancestral Gate” is rocking some Virus-level Hypocrisy riffs – but they definitely bring a fresher feel than many of their more popular contemporaries.

It helps, of course, that their palette of influences also stretches a little further – the keen-eared listener will also be able to detect certain similarities to the sinister atmospheric sensibilities of Sulphur Aeon, which have taken on a much more prominent role compared to the band’s first full-length – but what really makes this album work, if you hadn’t guessed already… is the hooks.

Because, and I don’t say this lightly, the hooks on these songs – from the hypnotic core progression guiding the grandiose chords and writhing tremolo riffs of “Aeons” to the doomy, slow-burn mix of menace and melody that is “Void Within” and the primal, rhythmic pulse of penultimate pounder “Severed” – are absolutely massive, putting the “Melodic” in “Death Metal” without sacrificing any of the genre’s underlying oomph.

Don’t believe me? Then just wait a little longer (a little over a week longer, to be more precise) and listen to just how massive the bone-crushing, bass-heavy “Ageless” sounds as it stomps out of the speakers, or how the malevolently melodic “Reincarnate” – one of the few songs, surprisingly, where drummer Ben Mazzarol actually cuts loose with some blastbeats (though, to be totally honest, you never really notice the lack of them, such is the way the songs are written to keep your attention without them) – gets both hookier and heavier as it goes on.

And if you can’t wait that long… well, you can already check out the absolutely killer title-track which, as befits its eponymous nature, combines all the best aspects of the band’s sound – humongous hooks, gargantuan grooves, and viscerally virulent riffs (aided and abetted by some subtly contagious synth embellishments) all wrapped around an unashamedly monstrous chorus refrain – into one irresistible package and should, hopefully, ensure that this time around you won’t Leave The Flesh Behind… behind.