(written by Islander)
The band name chosen by the Finnish death metallists Ashen Tomb suggests visions of lifeless emptiness, a cold catacombs whose ruins enclose desiccated flesh and collapsing bones, blanketed in the ash of some long-forgotten blaze. Their music, on the other hand, ignites visions of the horrid catastrophes that left the dead in such a blasted place.
Take, for example, the song we’re premiering today (with an excellent video) from Ashen Tomb‘s debut album Ecstatic Death Reign, which is set for release in October by Everlasting Spew Records: Its name is “Catharsis Through Torture“. Like the album’s name, it portends a revel in violence rather than lifeless ruins, and the music does indeed prove to be an expression of monstrous murderous ecstasy.
Photo by Kristian Tilander
The tortures inflicted by the song involve different implements. The riffing builds from a grisly whir into a horrific swarm as the drums burst into a blasting torrent. Along with screeching strings, Ashen Tomb also bring brutish musical battering rams to bear, as well as abyssal growls that escalate into ghastly howls. As if all that weren’t ruinous enough, they also lurch and stomp like hulking beasts.
The depredations also do sound ecstatic, thanks to blaring chord-fanfares and vividly wailing leads, as well as feral scampering beats — and of course those utterly deranged howls. Only near the end does the song’s pacing begin to crawl and the music begin to ooze putrescence, yet even then the guitars’ tremolo’d whirring sounds like a feasting of maggots.
In a nutshell, this is death metal that’s both brutalizing and eviscerating, both ghastly and exhilarating, a macabre and violent ecstasy indeed.
As icing on this infested cake, the video gives us a very good idea of the stage presence and performance of these barbarous Finns and what they’re capable of doing to an audience.
In addition to our own demented thoughts we’ll share these from one of the band-members:
“This song shows how well this band works together as it is written as a team effort. The song also showcases the band’s catchier side. This was one of the last songs to be finished for the album, but it is also one of my personal favourites.”
ASHEN TOMB is:
Ilkka Laaksonen – Vocals
Valtteri Viro – Drums
Joonatan Mäkinen – Guitar
Roni Oksanen – Guitar
Karhu Kuru – Bass
Ecstatic Death Reign was mixed at Studio Kolotila by Olli Nokkala, and mastered at Priory Recording Studios by Greg Chandler. The terrifically hideous cover art was created by Slimeweaver.
Everlasting Spew will release the album on CD, tape, and digital formats on October 18th, and will provide a vinyl edition in the winter of 2024. They recommend the album for fans of: Autopsy, Morta Skuld, Incantation, and Abhorrence.
PRE-ORDER:
[MAILORDER] https://bit.ly/4dwk1HW
[BANDCAMP] https://bit.ly/3ABbN2B
ASHEN TOMB:
https://www.facebook.com/ashentomb