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Monday, December 19, 2011

The Ash Eaters - The Cruel Side EP (2011)

Band: The Ash Eaters
Country: Austin, Texas
Style: Noise Rock/Black Metal
Label: Independent

I doubt a lot of people who are reading this know who The Ash Eaters are. Those familiar with the amazing blackened doom group Brown Jenkins should take notice that this is the next chapter of the members of that band's chapter. This is the band's second release, following a demo released earlier this year.
Coming from the droning and trippy ideas that were present on Brown Jenkins albums into this might be a bit of a jarring experience for some listeners. This is far from the dank and cold place that those recordings left you, with the two tracks that comprise this EP, you're brought into a much more chaotic and unstable state of mind with riffs that are dissonant and noisy. These songs are also have a clear punk edge to them, with certain drum patterns just sticking out from below the noise of the ringing guitar chords. While guttural growls and layered clean chants provide the voice for the chaotic undercurrent, the entire recording just undergoes a transformation into something far more bleak. While the music itself reflects chaos and disorder alone, the vocals bring even more bleakness and a palpable sense of disharmony. At times, it does bring groups like Deathspell Omega and Blut Aus Nord to mind, but this is a far more raw and visceral assault rather than a cerebral one, at this current moment anyway.
I really enjoy it, though I imagine it'll be a tough pill to swallow because it is different, especially from Brown Jenkins. It's a very good piece of work that I can only hope is developed even further and worked into a full-length. Definitely check this out if you want to hear some really crazy black metal.
Overall Score: 8
Highlights: We Want Oblivion

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