If you’ll forgive me, I’d like to begin this review with a food metaphor. Now it’s safe to say that most of us enjoy a good burger. From that first time, and despite however many years have gone by, we will look for, perhaps even crave, that moment we can get our hands on one. Yeah, it can be simple, yes, you have had it hundreds of times, yet we still come back to it. It’s been enhanced or improved upon in all its countless variations, but we still cannot curb our cravings, be it for the original or its different iterations. It’s a special thing because that moment when we bite into it, the warm bun, the juicy red meat (apologies to all you vegans, bear with me), onions, mustard, the sauces, basically all the various condiments, they all come together in joyous unity and give us that moment of bliss that justifies and warrants our continued need for this food of the gods. Hence, upon hearing this reissue of the debut from Ashen, I kept getting the hamburger analogy in my mind.
I first became aware of Ashen through another Australian band, Anoxia. Much like that burger you enjoy and cannot wait to dig into, Ashen does much to serve up all the right elements and flavors with their sound and their dynamics that can have us craving for more. These can be points or criteria we all enjoy, and when done well, it’s hard to resist that little smile that creeps in every single time. I will say this,the band possesses a sound that draws primarily from the Florida Death Metal scene but adds just a bit of Paradise Lost via the ‘Icon’ era just to add that lil extra flavor. Also, if you really listen, I feel there are moments of Nevermore. Yes, you read right, there is enough technicality in their groove, and they have some interesting songwriting that brings about elements of that godly band. Plus, and maybe it’s just me, but also do I not hear a brief spoken word tidbit within the song ‘Threshold’ that sounds just like Warrel!? I don’t know, maybe I’m externalizing my loss for such a great band and also for Warrell himself, but I do get subtle notes of a more Deathly oriented Nevermore.
Production-wise wise you cannot go wrong either. Just like a double-double burger, the production is fat and meaty and gives you plenty to sink your teeth into. So do you perhaps need to look over the menu? How about a vocalist with enough vocal variation in tone and in his enunciation so as not to get bored after the first bite? Let’s look further down the menu, shall we? You have a bassist who adds an extra bit of substance and texture to the overall presentation. You also have a drummer that offers a solid foundation, so has to hold all that you hear together in a glorious whole. (No snickering, please!) Also, if you do like more of those extra condiments, there are snippets and minor keyboard accentuations that gives you that little bit extra bite and flavor to what is already an almost perfect foray into that which is Death Metal.
So, having probably exhausted and bored you with my overdone food analogies, I will end with this. In much of what I was vainly trying to describe is, you know what you like, you know what is good, and you know that when done right, in whatever it may be, you will thoroughly enjoy it. Time and time again, plain and simple. That is what Ashen conveys to me.
