Ashen Horde – Antimony
Release Date: 27th January 2023
Label: Transcending Obscurity Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Black Metal, Death Metal, Progressive Metal, Technical Black Metal.
FFO: Immortal, Abigor, Enslaved, Ihsahn, Abhoria, Death.
Review By: Rick Farley
What started off as a one-man band, Ashen Horde has turned into a full-fledged line-up consisting of some of metals best musicians. A unique blend of black and death metal with progressive elements, and flourishes of tech. Not content with just staying in one lane, Antimony releasing on Transcending Obscurity Records is a harrowing journey through extreme metal unpredictability. First and foremost, this album is harsh, ruthless and at times sinister, but easily scratches the tech and prog itch for those of you who crave it. Both Trevor (Abhoria) guitar and Igor (Abhoria) bass bring the killer bone snapping riffs. Crunchy, jagged, swirling and heavy. Tons of energetic techy sections that show their incredible musicianship, but never enough to overtake the songs with unnecessary noodling. Well-crafted proggy sections add space and unique musical elements, making the heavier parts that much more ruthless. This record twists and turns with a controlled chaos, showing a refined writing style on the verge of smashing through a wall. The drums from Robin (Norse) are a precise interpretation of brutality through flawless execution. The drum performance is as exciting as the music itself, easily shifting between difficult styles and intensities. Exceptionally well written, and clinical performances make this an intriguing listen, albeit a hard one to completely pin down stylistically.
Right from the start of the record, the blistering black metal track The Throes of Agony is the equivalent of a molten lava bath. Seven minutes of pure black metal devastation, inflamed enough to burn down the nearest church. Slithering guitars set the mood for straight ferocity of punishing blast beats and shrieking high snarls from versatile vocalist Stevie (Inferi, Equipoise). He screams, growls and bellows with blackened raspy intensity. The Barrister has a slight Death influence at the very beginning between the snaking bassline and lightly off beat drums, while an unmuted distorted guitar passage careens over top. Layered cleans with screamed vocals under mimicking the lyrics sounds maniacal. This track has a genuine progressive feel to it, venturing from mood to mood, and riff to riff, never stopping for very long in any one area. It comes across with a memorable chaos to it. The start of The Courtesan has a slow doomy death metal feel that has some emotion filled tasty leads. The track erupts into freezing cold blackness; riffs swarming and drums ruthlessly blasting. Halfway through, clean vocals swoon with more doom laced riffs breaking the song in half and letting the second half of the song take a looser, groovier, but still nasty direction. The seven and a half minute opus Animus Nocendi is a destroying death metal influenced ride through hell. Leaning ever so slightly on proggy sections to further enhance the flesh ripping fierceness of the sharpened riffs and menacing feel.
These elaborate songs serve as chapters to bring to life the real story of the unsolved murder of Charles Bravo committed in 1876 with the vivid artistic expression by Niklas Sundin (Dark Tranquillity). Antimony is extremely well written, getting better and better with each listen. The album is fantastic sounding, full of savage blackened riffs, inventive cleans, devilish growls and chaos filled drumming all with excellent musicianship. Ashen Horde brings us their most mature piece of extreme metal, taking their craft to a whole other level. 
(4 / 5)
