Ancient Death – Ego Dissolution

Relative newcomers Ancient Death, who were formed in 2019 have now released their debut full length statement. Having found their way onto the virtually inimitable Profound Lore Records roster of artists, the quartet are here to rightfully alert all those who are partial to travelling within the abstract pathways of the calamitous metalsphere that they are in fact one new collective of musicians that you must be keeping an eye on.

‘Ego Dissolution’ is the name given to this debut record. Ancient Death are here with their intimidating and dazzling blend of Proggy Melodic Death Metal and with it they shall dissolve your own fickle ego in their corrosive acid sound bath. Consisting of Chuck Shuldiner-esque vocal oration, controlled but invasive blast beats and vaguely Middle Eastern tinged guitar scales that make for dangerously enchanting solos that will hypnotise you before robbing you of any sense of personal autonomy and forcefully inducing you into violent LSD flashbacks from a nightmare trip that you never knew you experienced. The occasional clean guitar break will allow you to find tranquil respite within the astral nightmare plane before the next wave of musical lysergic acid plunges you right back into the hallucinatory abyssal spectacle.

The sound of the album has a rather live in session feel which makes for an interesting and unique listening experience as ‘Ego Dissolution’ treads a fine line between the sound of a studio album and an actual live album. This does mean that the production can often sound quite laid back for an extreme Metal album but for a record whose mission is to relinquish the listener’s sense of self I find this strange sound really adds something special to the experience.

You see the skeleton on the album cover? The one whose matter is clearly being reclaimed by the world around it whilst a great many interlinked eyeballs levitate in the darkened sky above it like some kind of transcendent omnipotent energy? Go and be like that skeleton and surrender your fragile human ego and bask in the decomposing anti-joy sounds of Ancient Death. I recommend this to fans of Bolt Thrower, early Mastodon and to those who enjoy the slower, more atmospheric and Doomier side of Nile.