Self described as Atmospheric, black metal & death metal Ashenheart definitely know who they are with their caustic guitars, blast beats and rasping, biting vocals. The album, “Faded Gold” hits all the right notes, from it’s cold almost muddy mix of atonal riffs and imperative drums it is an experience that some will savor.
I’m no expert in this genre, or any for that matter but my listening has been limited when it comes to death metal or indeed black metal. Bathory when I was in my teens was about as extreme as I got and my tolerance was limited to early Metallica and Megadeth so I’m probably not a good judge or where this is sits genre wise.
Be that as it may I enjoyed this, it feels like undiscovered music, old, like Ice age old. It has moments of icy doom where the riffs are tremolo picked at wrist braking repetitiveness and the drums pound like a mammoth having a major heart attack.
“Decay and faded gold
Glinting in the light
A shattered ring
A shattered world”
The vocal stand out, elvenish but with an evil, saturated rasp – it sounds Tolkienesque. On further investigation it’s influences are Elden Ring a game I have little knowledge of but it seems to have similarities.
I love the mix where everything seems buried but isn’t – it’s just in reach. It feels sparse but full at the same time. There’s purpose in the composition a drive which keeps the listener in the pocket. My favorite track is the final track, “Weave Thy Night into Being” – It pounds and slashes with a ferocity that keeps you pinned to the wall. Its drilled guitars slamming drums and slashed vocals really sell this track. Doomy, deep, dark and ominous. If this is your trip I don’t you think you will be disappointed at all.
“But this world lies in ruins
Rotting from the inside
All broken long ago
Never to be set right”
“Faded Gold” feels a bit like an anachronism. Ashenheart do what they can, to make their sound appear as old-school as they can. All the elements you’d expect from a BlackMetal project are present: unrelenting blastbeats, fast guitarpicking and otherworldly harsh vocals. Even the overall soundquality is slightly muffled. But there is more to it.
Behind the staples of the genre, I found an unusual playfulness, showing me clearly that the artists involved are fully aware of the details that make BlackMetal an aquired taste with a loyal audience. The entire piece is not simply a loveletter and homage to a style of music, it also managed to become a part of it, a peer to bands past and present.
The story and overall mood of the album is one of despair, isolation, desperation and agony, with few bits of relief here and there. Despite it’s tempo, it feels cold and distant, like something that happened ages ago and has lost it’s urgency along the way. Which is fitting, since the lyrics are very much inspired by the game “Elden Ring”, a game that tells a story about a long forgotten world where nothing would ever change were it not for the actions of the player. In conclusion, “Faded Gold” is so old-school that it becomes refreshing again. A piece that I gladly recommend very highly.
There are very few game universes as profoundly metal as the ones Fromsoftware have created so the chunky 8-strings guitar riffs, blast beats and extreme vocals go hand in hand with the subject matter. (Mostly about important characters to to the Lands Between, who they are and what they represent.)
If you did not play the game, give Faded Gold a go. It’s not just a tribute to a game, it’s a great album that can stand on it’s own two feet even without prior knowledge of the game that inspired it.
I enjoyed the entire album. It grabs the listener and doesn’t let up at all with its darkness and power. There’s a lot going on in each of the six tracks.
Ashenheart
It is time. A new ritual has been completed. Open your mind and transport yourself to The Empire Of The Necromancers. Our new track via Noob Heavy. One day ahead of official release EP pre-orders will be going live tomorrow. Tapes via @fiadh.bsky.social
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