Altars – Ascetic Reflection
Release Date: 8th July 2022
Label: Everlasting Spew Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Technical Death Metal, Death Metal.
FFO: Ulcerate, Gorguts, Portal, Dead Congregation.
Review By: Andy Spoon
Australian Death Metal trio Altars are releasing their follow-up to the acclaimed 2013 album Paramnesia, after original founding band member Cale Schmidt’s exit due to health reasons. The band states they entered a long period of dormancy before finally recruiting new bassist/vocalist Brendan Sloan for Ascetic Reflection, set to release on July 8th, 2022. Hoping to pick up where Paramnesia left off, Altars hopes to resurrect the project with their 8-track LP, for which the band is evidently excited, noting the album is “an arcane and powerfully organic culmination of the renewed trio’s efforts”. Media formats expected to be digital, CD, tape, and eventually vinyl in late 2022.
Perverse Entity – Ascetic Reflection starts its featured content (after the intro track) on a high note with wailing, screeching guitars, even in its intro. It’s obvious that this is going to be a good album with the no-nonsense intro right out of the gate. Perverse Entity features one of the only traditional-style death metal guitar solos on the record. There is a beautiful excess of the “panic chords” anti-melodic, dissonant chords meant to create a clear, rhythmic pang that is meant to incite discordant feelings for the listener, something that I have come to appreciate as a function of some death metal, as it works towards building the extreme sound that Altars’ fans have loved since their debut in 2008.
Luminous Jar – Noise-heavy and fast right out of the gate. It’s a solid “second track” of the album (since the first track is an intro). Once the beginning measures of the song are finished, it goes into ¼ time, feeling a little “doomy” for several bars before going right back into the verses at full speed. This track utilizes the heavy out-of tune effect on the guitar line to create a disorientation for the listener that is reigned in by the bass, drums, and vocals. This sounds HUGE for a three-piece. Vocals vary from mid to mid-high, enough to keep it interesting, especially during the middle segment between around 03:00 and about 04:30, where the track hits another tempo and rhythm change. The variations in this track are entertaining, and fluctuate between slow, whole notes, and then to staccato chugging riffs and scream vocals.
Black Light Upon Us – This song has a slower start, creating an atmospheric hollow void, then explodes into measures of alternating blast beats-over-rapid suspended-chord picking. The track is over seven minutes long, so an intro like this seems customary to set the proper scene. Once the melody starts to emerge (around the 02:00 minute mark), Altars regresses into the half-time, chanting verse structure that seems to be part of their signature sound. It’s obvious that atmosphere is important to Altars on Ascetic Reflection, the verses being slow and heavy (think bands like Gatecreeper), and then alternating tempo by flying into mach-2 speed riffs and blast beats. It’s safe to say that the album is neither fast-paced, nor slow. It’s clearly both at the same time, something that lends itself heavily to Altars’ identity.
Ascetic Reflection – The title track of the album starts with a short, math-y, technical musical phrase and a highly-satisfying “blegh” from vocalist Brendan Sloan before verse one, going on at its constant pace, continually repeating the extremely-catchy guitar hook until the 02:00 mark, where the breakdown structure begins to start, featuring a mixture of short breakdown segments with enjoyable bass solo work to expand the soundscape. The track hits its inevitable lull after around three minutes-in, as guitars start to play a building melody line that increases in intensity over the next couple of minutes to end the whole song. I find it interesting that these tracks have such unique song structure, not sticking to any one formula. It gives the listener a highly-complex listen over the entire 40-minute runtime of Ascetic Reflection.
Anhedonia – This track features a notable guitar melody at the one-minute mark that absolutely crushes with a two or three part dissonant harmony that returns again as part of a (pseudo) chorus structure. It’s one of the better “stank face”-inducing moments of the album, as that single riff is worthy of placing the track on repeat several times to appreciate. This track is generally faster-paced than the other tracks, which utilize the up-and-down structure; however, it takes a 90-degree turn at the resolution, where it features a tempo drop to a punishing final chord in conclusion.
Opening The Passage – Another extremely-long track at almost seven and a half minutes. This particular song has a different feel that seems to harken back to influences in older death metal, namely on drums, which are highly-reminiscent of older-school death metal in the beginning sequences. Altars take a different approach to this track, as far as I can hear. There seems to be some blackened “wall of sound” elements in the guitar/drums, as there are several moments of the “controlled chaos” that we hear so-often in atmospheric metal. It certainly creates a departure from the rest of the pace of the album, but not necessarily in a negative way. True to form, the track settles down into a series of slow-fast-slow-fast segments that pervade Ascetic Reflection in its entirety.
Inauspicious Prayer – The final track on Ascetic Reflection starts with some eerie samples, leading into a full doom-metal procession of deep and menacing whole notes. At around 01:30, it slightly speeds up and goes into a more rhythmic cadence, creating a disorienting, but satisfying outro to the album. The track is largely a musical interlude, not having any vocals. I wish that there could have been some type of vocal refrain to close the album out, but it didn’t detract from the overall message, if there is one.
Overall, Ascetic Reflection was a fairly quick listen, never getting boring or cliché, largely thanks to the constant dynamic changes of pace, for which I have some mixed feelings. Perhaps it is something that could be employed more sparingly, but that’s a highly-subjective take. I think that there is a great chance that the Australian trio has developed a unique, pervasive fast-slow dynamic that they want to stick with. It’s part of their ultimate sound, which is evident. There is a good blend of atmosphere and dynamic shifts. Ascetic Reflection is a complex, but rewarding listen, never getting cliché or boring, always giving the listener a little more to look forward to on the next track, whether it’s a doomy, sludgy breakdown, or a screeching, noise/death onslaught.
(4 / 5)
