attenash-thehourglass-reviews

Review from Aristocrazia Webzine

Fri, 05 Jun 2015 20:26:05 +0100

From: Aristocrazia Webzine

Published: June 1, 2015

Il trio statunitense degli Atten Ash — sorto per volontà di James Greene (voce pulita, chitarra, basso e batteria) e completato dalle figure di Barre Gambling (chitarre e tastiere, noto per essere uno dei membri fondatori degli attivi Daylight Dies) e Archie Hunt dei Legion Of The Fallen (voce growl) — è entrato a far parte della famiglia canadese della Hypnotic Dirge Records. Dopo aver rilasciato uno split che li vedeva condividere del tempo con gli australiani Lycanthia, l'etichetta di Nicolas Skog si è messa in moto per riportare alla luce il loro album d'esordio "Hourglass", concepito originalmente in versione autoprodotta ed esclusivamente in formato digitale nel 2012.

Una breve ricerca in rete mi permette di notare da subito alcune palesi differenze per quanto concerne la veste grafica: la copertina della nuova edizione è diversa, il compito di realizzarla è stato affidato a Paolo Kadath, batterista dei nostrani (EchO). Il digipak cromaticamente immerso in tonalità grigio scure e nere contiene un libretto informativo di dodici pagine, nelle quali non si fa menzione a una ri-masterizzazione del suono, è quindi lecito pensare che abbiano voluto mantenere la registrazione del tempo.

La scaletta posta nella parte posteriore del disco presenta una sequenza di brani differente rispetto a quella utilizzata nel 2012, che era la seguente:

Per mera curiosità ho provato ad ascoltare il lavoro utilizzandole entrambe, nel tentativo di comprendere cosa potesse cambiare a livello d'impatto emotivo e atmosferico fra le due scelte. Al momento tendo a preferire l'impostazione odierna, dato che la trovo più fluida e avvolgente, ma vi consiglio di fare lo stesso tentativo per entrarvi in pieno contatto.

Venendo alla musica, quello che ci interessa davvero, essa ruota intorno a un doom-death melodico che da un lato ha come possibili riferimenti proprio quelli a stelle e strisce dei Daylight Dies e dei canadesi Woods Of Ypres, mentre dall'altro non cela una natura europea figlia di creature quali Anathema, Katatonia e Doom:VS. Il gruppo mette a disposizione una serie di canzoni in cui le melodie intrise di malinconia perlacea si fondono con attimi più profondamente grigi, sopra di esse si stagliano poi in maniera alternata le voci di Greene (pulita) e Hunt (growl) a scandirne i movimenti. Inoltre spesso e volentieri vi è spazio per il ricamo solistico di chitarra.

Sinceramente non mi sento di suggerirvi l'ascolto di un pezzo piuttosto che un altro: il lavoro scorre bene nella propria interezza, riuscendo a offrire spunti validi in ogni episodio contenuto, mentre preferisco rivolgere una lieve — seppur dovuta — critica a una produzione che forse avrebbe potuto dare maggior consistenza e peso all'operato della batteria, un po' troppo leggerina e dal suono un tantino freddo.

Per gli Atten Ash è stata una fortuna che questo album sia finito sotto le mani di una giovane ma sempre più interessante e intraprendente etichetta come quella di Skog, del resto dubito che gli amanti del genere potranno non trovarlo quantomeno piacevole. Mi auguro perciò che la possibilità di entrarne in possesso fisicamente sia oggi un valido motivo per fare la conoscenza della band: ovviamente il materiale ha già alle spalle il suo — seppur breve — vissuto, si attende quindi una seconda fatica discografica che confermi la bontà del progetto, sperando non faccia trascorre troppo tempo nel confezionarla. Evitando di dilungarmi ulteriormente, mi fermo qui e vi lascio all'ascolto di "Hourglass".

Reviewed by: Gabriele Strano

Review from Friedhof Magazine

Tue, 26 May 2015 22:20:11 +0100

From: Friedhof Magazine

Published: May 25, 2015

Original Link

Hay trabajos que pasados unos pocos segundos ya te atrapan, y si encima tienes la suerte de que uno de estos caiga en tus manos para reseñar, todo parece ir en la dirección correcta. Estas son exactamente las sensaciones que puedo describir cuando transcurren unos pocos segundos del primer trabajo de los norteamericanos Atten Ash; unos desconocidos para mí, pero que tras algunas indagaciones, confirmaron mis sospechas.

Atten Ash es el nombre del trío formado por James Greene y que cuenta entre sus filas con Barre Gambling, guitarrista y fundador de Daylight Dies (aquí las piezas ya me empiezan a encajar) y Archie Hunt (cantante y guitarrista de Legion of the Fallen) para completar la formación. Lanzando su primer trabajo, The Hourglass, auto-editado en 2012 y que ahora ve la luz de la mano de Hypnotic Dirge Records.

El trío de Carolina del Norte nos presenta un trabajo de 50 minutos de doom death melódico y atmosférico que desde su primer corte "City in the Sea" deja clara la solvencia de sus integrantes: ritmos pesados pero pegadizos gracias a riffs afilados, melancólicos pasajes que crean hiatos en oscuras melodías desgarradas por la garganta de Archie Hunt y que se complementan con elaborados solos de guitarra.

No es hasta el tercer corte, "Not As Others Were", que aparece un registro vocal limpio, a cargo de James Greene, quien cobra más protagonismo en el ecuador de este trabajo, como por ejemplo en "Song for the Dead", tema que trae a mi memoria a los fineses RAPTURE. "Born" es un corte pesado y plagado de emotividad e incluso cierta épica en sus partes vocales limpias.

Cierran sus casi 50 minutos con la pista que da nombre al disco, "The Hourglass", y que es sin duda, la composición más melódica y atmosférica de todas.

En resumidas cuentas nos encontramos ante un gran trabajo del genero Doom/Death que no defraudará a los fans de bandas como Katatonia, October Tide o, por supuesto, Daylight Dies, pues ya es bastante curioso de por sí que este trabajo se gestara en paralelo a su A Frail Becoming, así que saquen sus propias conclusiones sobre cuál ha sido el manantial del que han bebido las musas compositivas de este trio.

Veo necesario remarcar que el ritmo y la calidad de las composiciones no sufren altibajos a lo largo de todo el disco, cosa que se agradece facilitando su escucha del tirón una y otra vez. Es una lástima, no obstante, que estos experimentos o proyectos paralelos no sean más arriesgados (en definitiva no veo innovación alguna o riesgo palpable en hacer un disco sobre un género que ya dominas ampliamente). El mérito, no nos engañemos, se lo han ganado de sobras manufacturando este The Hourglass, para mí, un trabajo a destacar este 2015, el cual pese a que tenga ya unos años, se mantiene fresco. Y ojalá perdure.

Rating: 8/10

Reviewed by: Victor Senao

Review from Pest Webzine

Wed, 20 May 2015 00:17:40 +0100

From: Pest Webzine

Published: May 16, 2015

Original Link

Featuring Barre Gambling from Candlelight artist Daylight Dies, Atten Ash is a trio offering us here their debut album released in digital format by the band 3 years ago, in 2012, and picked up by Hypnotic Dirge and re-released in Digipack CD format this year, a very good decision by the hardworking Canadian label. The 8 tracks featured here, totaling 50 minutes, are a deep, emotional, mesmerizing descent in a depressing and nostalgic atmosphere. Stylistically speaking Atten Ash reminds me of the UK Doom Death scene of the '90's, mid to end '90's that is, especially Anathema and Paradise Lost, but with a fresh edge to it, a fresh and interesting Melodic Doom Death Metal complete with excellent clean male vocals, comprehensive growling vocals, slow, doomy guitar riffs supported by melodic, ethereal leads, and a rhythm section that is both subtle and powerful. All in all I think I've listened to it at least 10 times already and I'm not bored yet, not even one bit, and that doesn't happen often nowadays, so it's my duty to recommend it to you, too, and to declare myself satisfied by this excellent, ellegant debut album.

Rating: 9/10

Reviewed by: Adrian

Review from Sic Maggot Webzine

Thu, 14 May 2015 22:36:04 +0100

From: Sic Maggot Webzine

Published: May 8, 2015

Original Link

Jméno amerických Atten Ash zřejmě mnohým nic moc neřekne. Pakliže ano, vznáším komplimenty a odesílám omluvy za podcenění. Pokud vám je ovšem tento název cizí, s čímž jsem počítal, neměli byste minout následující řádky, ve kterých se vám Atten Ash pokusím představit. Tak tedy hurá na věc.

Znáte-li death/doomové veterány Daylight Dies, k Atten Ash je to už coby šutrem dohodil. Citelnou oporou Atten Ash je totiž kytarista Barre Gambling, jenž v Daylight Dies hraje od úplných začátků, a to jak osobních, tak i kapelních. V sestavě působí mimo Gamblinga ještě dva další muzikanti, kteří se s tak bohatou kariérou pochlubit nemohou. Nezkušenost ovšem z hudby Atten Ash nesálá, což automaticky vyvolává otázku, jak velkým vlivem působí na kapelu výše zmíněný Gambling. Veškerému pídění po této informaci však dávám utrum hned v zárodku. Přede mnou přece leží nahrávka s podpisem celé kapely a o tu půjde v dalších řádcích především.

Hnacím motorem pro odstartování činnosti kapely v roce 2011 bylo utužení spolupráce zakladatele Jamese Greenea a právě Barreho Gamblinga. Je evidentní, že si tihle pánové padli hudebně do ucha. Vždyť debutová placka „The Hourglass“ vychází samonákladem již rok nato. Od té doby nějaký ten pátek uběhl a letos je naproti tomu situace jiná. Američané figurují na soupisce kanadských Hypnotic Dirge Records a ihned se rýsuje spolupráce s labelovými kolegy, žánrově spřízněnými Lycanthia z Austrálie. To nás ale nemusí pálit, neb dnes se nezaměříme na nové splitko, ale na debut z roku 2012. Do ruky se nám dostává až nyní, kdy jeho existenci Hypnotic Dirge Records oživují a znovu ho pod svou hlavičkou vypouští do světa.

Atten Ash na svém debutu předvádí ničím nefalšovaný krystalický death/doom, jenž působí ještě mnohem tradicionálnějším dojmem než vzpomínaní Daylight Dies. Co do čistě hudebního výraziva jsou obě kapely velmi úzce spjaty, to ano. Markantní rozdíl lze ale vypozorovat v kompoziční složce, která je v případě Atten Ash jednodušší a mnohem zpěvnější. Kapela však současně prokazuje dostatečnou nápaditost, která budiž zárukou, že se „The Hourglass“ i přes svou jednoduchost zas tak rychle neoposlouchá, i když nějakých deset poslechů udělá pravda své. Kapela zvolila formát separovaných skladeb. Každá z nich si žije vlastním životem, avšak současně zodpovědně dýchá i za „The Hourglass“ jako celek. Písně mají silná témata, s nimiž si na ploše kolem šesti minut Atten Ash solidně pohrávají. Nikterak prudce, ne-li nuceně, ale ladně s doomovou citlivostí. A když už jedna píseň dořekne to své, není třeba smutnit. „The Hourglass“ totiž nemá žádné výrazně hluché místo. Jakmile slovo přeci jen převezme zdlouhavější pasáž, okamžitě přichází náhlá změna, úřadující ovšem nadále v nerušivých libozvučných mantinelech.

Teď z krapet civilnějšího soudku. Atten Ash na svém debutu rozhodně nepředvádějí žádnou novátořinu a k zaslechnutí jsou veškeré death/doom charakterizující fragmenty. Hlavním hráčem jsou kytary – základní stavební kámen veškerých melodií. A melodie, to je alfa omega celého „The Hourglass“. Sklonit se před kytarami musí i vokály, což je jak případ temného chrčáku, tak i čistě znějícího sekundanta. Taktéž vokály nejsou ničím doposud neslyšeným a například ve skladbě „Born“ jsem si okamžitě vzpomněl na Tomiho Joutsena z Amorphis. A nejsou to jen nápěvy, které tuhle finskou veličinu evokují. Ostatně proč se divit, vždyť k doomu Amorphis neměli nikdy daleko. Puls celého debutu se drží konstantně nastavené linie a změny temp jsou spíš než pravidlem vzácným ozvláštněním. S rytmickou složkou je to jiné. Díky kreativitě bicích je s rytmy důkladně variováno a je úplně jedno, že nejde o nic bůhvíjak komplikovaného, co by zahrál po bicmanovi Atten Ash už jen Hellhammer z Mayhem. V kontextu předvedené muziky jedině dobře.

Co dodat závěrem? Pakliže jste nekomplikované death/doomové hudbě nakloněni, není nad čím váhat, „The Hourglass“ se vám bude líbit. Atten Ash se nevytasili s omračujícím opusem, který je třeba dokola sjíždět kvůli jeho skladatelské sofistikovanosti či dechberoucím hráčským výkonům. Stále jde jen o nesvětobornou, ale zato velmi příjemnou žánrovku s fajnovými melodiemi, do nichž jsou emoce aktérů přetaveny natolik věrně, že není od věci hlásit milé překvapení.

Reviewed by: SKVRN

Review from Chronicles of Chaos

Thu, 14 May 2015 22:35:13 +0100

From: Chronicles of Chaos

Published: May 2, 2015

Original Link

As soon as we thought decent melodic doom/death had gone bankrupt, comes this little album by an American unheralded three-piece group and proves us completely fucking wrong. The excellent Canada-based Hypnotic Dirge Records has picked, like it occasionally does, an independently released album nobody has heard about (originally self-released in 2012), provides it with a new (and usually awesome) packaging and artwork, and re-releases it for all of us to enjoy a recording that otherwise would have been left rotting in its own shadows of anonymity.

Atten Ash's "The Hourglass" is being compared to whatever Daylight Dies have been playing, and other than the fact both bands share the same guitar player (and keyboardist) by the name of Barre Gambling, we cannot comment on Daylight Dies' music. We can, however, appreciate Atten Ash's music on a standalone basis, and compare it to nothing out there, because whatever is out there is either too heavy and death metal-oriented compared to the gentle, progressive tunes captured on "The Hourglass"or too fucking lame.

The beauty of "The Hourglass" lies with the fact it balances so well between the melodic, delicate and easy listening parts, and the harsh, ominous and dark ones, sounding surprisingly fresh and unique, despite the dangerous waters the band navigate through. Dangerous waters, because this album could have been a total display of lameness, sounding too friendly and pop-oriented, or derivative; some would say boring, some would add sleep-inducing or cliché-ridden.

But no, sirs and madams, this album is beautiful and awe-inspiring. With guitars having a distinctive black metal sound, a couple of vocalists who are extremely potent with both the guttural howls of one guy and the clean singing of the other guy, and brilliant songwriting, this album is a delicacy to the ear -- and we mean the most exquisite of delicacies. Not a pompous, self-important, arrogant and blown-out-of-proportions recording -- but a musical black swan: perfect, majestic, beautiful and so fragile.

But the first impression may be somewhat lukewarm: you get the idea fast and you kind of like the album for its extreme friendliness and tame nature; you wait for the bite, for the blow -- but those never come.

Then, you listen some more; more intentionally and with a greater attention, and you realize this album is brilliant. In fact, it's so brilliant you wouldn't find any used, second-hand riff or part of a riff, throughout the entire album. This album is custom-made from beginning to end, having a strong, singular personality no other album possesses, simply because no other album has been yet recorded by that same assembly of musical/magical minds. By no means your habitual atmospheric doom/death metal record, this is a different kind of deadly doom -- and it is simply exquisite.

Despite the many references you may find in Atten Ash's music to the band's various inspirations (several atmospheric hardcore, progressive, death, doom and black metal bands come to mind, but we won't force-feed you -- try to use your own process of connotation and association while listening), these eight songs are truly a triumph for individuality; from the very first riff and synth line, to the last of the guitar leads, till the very end of the vocal performances -- until the very last note has died out, this album is authenticity made flesh.

The album possesses an emotional burden; this burden is found in the embedded melancholy and sad melodies it unleashes in a cascade of tunes so beautiful, they hurt. Long, contemplative and utterly spellbinding tracks with nothing but a display of sheer brilliance, this album radiates with the death of summer, the many hearts that are being broken, the crumbling of youth. This music makes us feel like we're running out of time, hence the hourglass -- and you don't even need to read the lyrics to know all this; all you have to do it listen.

The finest of the crop, "The Hourglass" is a crash course in creativity, songwriting, individuality and the finest example of the art of translating sounds to pure emotions, and vice versa. Albums like this one are why we listen to metal music; we listen to metal because only within the intangible walls of heavy metal an album such as this could have been conceived; an album that -excites-, an album that -transcends-, an album that -pummels-, an album that does all that synchronously.

Whether you love progressive rock or heavy metal, this album is a masterpiece you can start -and- finish with.

Rating: 9.5/10

Reviewed by: Chaim Drishner

Review from Teeth of the Divine

Thu, 14 May 2015 22:33:18 +0100

From: Teeth of the Divine

Published: April 6, 2015

Original Link

It does not take genius to figure out that Atten Ash founder James Greene is a fan of Daylight Dies. He and the band hail from the same state (North Carolina), play a form of emotive, melancholy death/doom metal, and to top things off, he recruited current Daylight Dies guitarist Barre Gambling to play guitars and keyboards on the band’s debut album, The Hourglass. And while the line between rip off and homage is clearly blurry here, Atten Ash‘s rendering of a pretty specific style and influence is so well done, you can’t help admire the project’s dedication.

Although this album was actually self released back in 2012, it’s getting a nice re-release through the appropriately named Hypnotic Dirge Records, and immediately gives the small Canadian based label a real game changer that should put the label on the map. Not only because of the obvious Daylight Dies ties, but because The Hour Glass is a damn fine album that holds up essentially 3 years later.

With Greene providing smooth clean croons along with the deep, harsh growls of Archie Hunt, and some subtle keyboards, the mood is appropriately despondent, while providing ample depth and doomy/death metal girth. The riffs ebb and flow with emotion while the Daylight Dies, distinctly Finnish strains (Rapture namely) and other noticeable Scandinavian influences (Katatonia, October Tide, etc) of somber lead guitars dance morosely over each moment, providing plenty of gorgeous, but saddening atmospherics.

No track really leaps out or commands your attention, but rather the album’s 50 minute entirely reels you in with it’s its finely crafted sense of mournful hues delivered with sullen crunches and gloomy leads. That being said, the likes of “Born” and little more direct “Waves of Siloam” or the more rending “See You…Never” “Not as Others Were” and lengthy, sullen closing title track all certainly showcase the trio’s craft adeptly. Delicate acoustics and clean segues litter the materials cleaner moments (i.e “Song for the Dead”, “First Day”) but they never overstay or drag on.

Those waiting for For Daylight Dies , who certainly are not prolific, to release a follow up to 2012s A Frail Becoming, could do no worse than this release as it’s a perfect ringer to keep their place warm, but gloomy.

Reviewed by: E. Thomas

Review from Metal Tenple

Thu, 14 May 2015 22:33:12 +0100

From: Metal Tenple

Published: March 24, 2015

Original Link

Quite interesting sounds, the pattern and the roll this band's giving to us; a gloomy night-sky over a sleepy land dressed in pale – would that fit in the concept of ATTEN ASH? This full-length of pitch-black emotion, an aggression inside a slow-motion, a classic finesse of Death\\Doom Metal with addition of melodies, was recorded in 2012, as an independent release, but then Hypnotic Dirge Records took the strings and re-released it, last month.

The whole story behind these Death Metal Doom-heads started back in 2011, by James Greene, who managed to write the album foundations. Along, he befriended rest of the crew and they carried on finalizing the album to its today's shape. Placed in North Carolina, this trio is hailing an interesting approach to one of the oldest Metal genres, adding harmonic guitar lines of Melodic Death Metal and doping it in heavy-taking atmosphere.

This manifest kicks off with “City in the Sea”; a true patten of what this whole genre\\sub-genre should be about, and what bands should honor if planning to make a vast of applauds and good marks from Melodic Metal audience. A battle, a true war of balance and tempos, going up and down from fast riffing to slow one, almost balladic narrating with clean vocals, and yet the massive change and a new path within growls. Third one in line is tagged under the name “Not as Others Were” - jumping off among others; song that DAYLIGHT DIES fans will love to listen, and I admit, I am proud to say I'm one of those. Again, this entity shows you the true mania of vocals colliding, and the conflict of two ways in singing, but I cannot escape the feeling that this is too familiar and something I often listen to.

Labels I would point out as my number ones in this album is final one - “The Hourglass” and “Born”. Both of them I find as a true class, and both of them most surely be would in my playlist. Dazed in MDM with slightly doomish background and epic chores are the brightest spots of this debut album; yet I cannot resist finding too many links to previous works by OCTOBER TIDE and some SLUMBER, a fine, fine circle of artists you're swaying among.

Now I will divide this review, in here, in this part, I'll be subjective and as a possible customer\\fan of the music, I'll speak off my thoughts; as a complete admirer of this genre, whole dream-land within Melodic Metal, whether Death\\Doom, pure Melodic Death or Doom with all the additives, I cannot keep my focuses on to this deed. These almost 50 minutes of the album's melodies could not make me focus nor kept my clarity; DAYLIGHT DIES, SLUMBER, RAPTURE, NOVEMBRE, SATURNUS, ENSHINE and even some BE'LAKOR; too many, insignificant bands in this case, dashed though my wit listening your album. I am not saying you aren't skilled, and NO, I am not calling them out as a rip-off; I will never disrespect their talent nor ideas, but this is too, too damn similar to all of mentioned artists. Maybe Barre Gambling brought too much of DAYLIGHT DIES era to the work, and then also suggested they're taking shape after all of them, but to me as a unit, this makes a slight issue. I would not like to see people to judge them based on some limits and links they are having with them, but I think I know a few who would, and myself would mind that creative approach, a bit, too.

Grading this whole assignment with a seven; their form, pattern, aggression, passion deserve to be preached about inside Metal-spheres, your vocals are out of this world, sick riffing, sick; I salute you guys.

Rating: 7/10

Reviewed by: Bränisläv Stänojević

Review from Alternativ Musik

Thu, 14 May 2015 22:33:03 +0100

From: Alternativ Musik

Published: March 20, 2015

Original Link

Man versteht es nicht. Und das trotz zahlloser Durchgänge, die man schon hinter sich hat. Dabei lief das Album erstmal nur so an einem vorbei und wurde kaum wahrgenommen, bis es dann irgendwann klick machte und man immer mehr die Tiefenstrukturen von The Hourglass erkannte, die sich unter einem soliden Fundament aus Melodic Death und Doom Metal befinden und eine Grundstimmung erzeugen, die genretypisch mit Begriffen wie Weltschmerz, Trauer und Finsternis zu beschreiben sind. Doch dieses Fundament wird genutzt, um Melodien zu erzeugen, die sich immer weiter in die Höhe zu katapultieren scheinen.

So richtig beschreiben lässt sich die Herangehensweise nicht. Was aber immer wieder auffällt ist, wie das Gerüst aus monoton-schleppenden Riffs aufgebaut wird, um das herum immer sehr viel passiert: Gedankenverlorene Gitarrensoli legen sich darüber, epischer oder grunzender Gesang und immer wieder Momente, in denen ein paar Funken Licht durch die Finsternis kommen, dann aber nur eine surreal-bedrohliche Kulisse beleuchten, die kaum fassbar ist. Dann aber wieder Momente, die so bleischwer wirken und den Hörer zu erdrücken scheinen.

The Hourglass hat während seiner Spielzeit viel zu bieten, bleibt aber ein Album mit vielen Ecken und Kanten, die nicht jedem gefallen werden. Genre-Fans bekommen aber ein sehr gelungenes Genre-Werk, mit dem sie sich lange beschäftigen können.

Reviewed by: Tristan Osterfeld

Review from Métallifer Blog

Thu, 14 May 2015 22:32:31 +0100

From: Métallifer Blog

Published: March 20, 2015

Original Link

Atten Ash est un groupe originaire des Etas Unis et plus précisément de la Caroline du Nord. Le groupe sort son premier album The Hourglass en 2012 sous forme d’autoproduction. Aujourd’hui ce même album sort avec une tracklist affichée dans un ordre différent via le label Hypnotic Dirge Records. Et c’est tant mieux puisque le groupe peut profiter du support d’un label pour promouvoir et faire connaître sa musique. Aux manettes du groupe on trouve Archie Hunt qui se charge des voix death, James Greene, fondateur du groupe, qui s’occupe des guitares, de la batterie et du chant clair et Barre Gambling qui gère les soli de guitare et le synthétiseur. Toutes les musiques ont été écrites par Greene et les trois membres du groupe ont géré les lyriques.

Atten Ash évolue dans un style qui mélange habilement le death metal, grâce à la voix grunt de Greene et des structures rythmiques propres à ce genre de metal, et le doom metal grâce à des ralentissements et à des tempi plus lents qui mettent en valeur un univers de solitude et de noirceur. Il faut mitiger quand même cette noirceur. De même que la pochette est grise (du foncé au plus clair) l’univers de Atten Ash n’est pas désespéré mais sombre avec des ouvertures vers une certaine lumière. Cet aspect de contraste intérieur et gris (entre le noir et la lumière) on le retrouve bien dans l’alternance de voix clean et voix grunt. De plus cette alternance n’est pas systématique comme le titre Song For The Dead le laisse voir, grâce à la seule utilisation de la voix claire. L’ouverture vers la lumière se fait aussi par le biais du titre Waves Of Siloam où il est question d’une certaine religiosité et d’ouverture si ce n’est pas vers le christianisme du moins vers la figure du messie. La grâce est offerte mais le texte se peut prêter à deux interprétations différentes, soit cette grâce est à la portée du chanteur et donc de tout à chacun, soit elle ne l’est pas. Le texte reste ambigu. Voici le travail des textes qui ne sont jamais banals et qui aussi dans deux cas sont des emprunts à la poésie de Edgar Allan Poe. City In The Sea est tirée de la poésie du même nom ainsi que Not As Others Were est tiré de la poésie Alone.

Musicalement Atten Ash est proche de Paradise Lost, surtout de l’album Icon. Pour preuve il suffit d’écouter See Me Never et on pourrait entendre la voix de Nick Holmes et la guitare de Gregor Mackintosh. Il y aussi par moment des échos du groupe russe When Nothing Remains.

Tout l’album est très intéressant et abouti. On soulignera en particulier la beauté du titre Song For The Dead avec sa voix clean suggestive, son rythme lent et ses soli percutants. De même Born est parmi les meilleurs titres avec son rythme lent, un intense passage acoustique et atmosphérique qui précède à chaque fois le refrain et son relative accélération. Il y a des superbes harmonies de guitare et l’échange entre voix claire et grunt est très abouti. Cet album est très intéressant, puissant et douce à la fois, réflexif et agressif selon les moments. Toujours avec une alternance, un mouvement incessant qui révèle le meuvent de la psyché humaine.

Rating: 9/10

Review from Heavy Blog is Heavy

Thu, 14 May 2015 22:31:22 +0100

From: Heavy Blog is Heavy

Published: March 19, 2015

Original Link

When people try to classify ‘doom metal’, it used to be easy. Things like early Anathema and Disembowelment pioneered the doom movement, which was slow, loud, and grim. However, as time went on, the genre seemed to gain more diverse influences. Katatonia added melody and cleans to the genre, and bands like In Mourning and Be’Lakor added elements of post-metal and melodic death metal to give it a new, modern feel. With so many facets of the genre, it’s not hard to figure that Atten Ash belong within it. However, finding where exactly they belong within a genre with so many great bands is the real test that their music brings upon us.The album is chock full of some really cool riffs and doom’s signature super-low growls, but the band also manage to add a large amount of melody to the music. There are some cleans at times, which are pretty decent, and really fit the music. They’re reminiscent of Jonas from Katatonia when he was just beginning to hone his craft: slightly rough around the edges, but with tons of passion. You really feel that the vocalist believes what he is singing. The passion can really be felt with his cleans, though the real highlight are his lows, which are brutal as it could be.

The best part about this record is probably the production. It’s crisp and perfectly fitting for the sound the band were going for. They really hit it out of the park in that respect. There are times when the song calls for a louder guitar mix, maybe a tad more drums, and the production team adjusted that accordingly in order to give the record an overall fuller sound than if it were just the same mix throughout the duration of the record.

The further we delve into the album, however, the further we find a common issue that seems to plague it from beginning to end: it’s extremely difficult to distinguish it from anything else. This is not to say it’s a bad album by any means, because it most definitely is not. However, there are moments where you forget which band you’re listening to and have to double check to make sure you didn’t accidentally switch over to something else. For example, the song ‘Born’ sounds like something straight out of the “modern doom” handbook where the band know exactly what they need. The same goes for the song ‘See You…Never‘, where the songs starts out pretty powerful but eventually just ends with little to no impact when compared to the first minute or so of the song. The problem likely lies in the fact that the genre is becoming more and more inundated with bands sounding highly similar with little to no variety. While Atten Ash has tons of potential, it will take at least one more album to really come into their own and set themselves apart from the rest of the bands in the genre as their own entity, because right now they sound more like an amalgamation of everything else than their own unit.

At the end of the day, the band is still incredibly new to the scene. The have tons of opportunities to mature, to grow, and to hone their sound to make it unique and discernible from the rest of the pack. As for right now, however, we have a band that put out a good album, but not a very memorable one. Hopefully the band can take these critiques and move forward, positive that only good things will come in the future, because we are all optimistic that the only way to go now is upward and onward.

Rating: 3/5

Reviewed by: Spencer Snitil