Ascended Dead – Abhorrent Manifestation (Invictus Productions. 2017).

Ascended Dead – Abhorrent Manifestation (Invictus Productions. 2017).

Ascended Dead have unleashed a savage, unremitting assault of old-school Death Metal with their debut album, which starts with the killer The Promised Time, a merciless Tartarean onslaught with fierce riffs that tear you to shreds. The tension builds with the masterful intro in the first minute, which brims with sinister energy as a tremolo picked powerchord gradually increases in volumes and demonic sounding shrieks are heard, and then all Hell comes pouring forth to ravage and devastate your mind, body, and soul. The drumming is a remorseless attack, full of power and force that hammers home the vicious onslaught of the guitars. The song Bloodthirst is ravenous and rabid, going straight to the throat with killer riffs in a frenzy that will have heads banging and fists flying. It is relentless and is a fantastic example of what makes Ascended Dead such an amazing band, fusing Morbid Angel, Possessed, and Necrovore into a hideous abomination of Stygian Darkness and bestial frenzy. The music is evil and brings forth a darkness to it, whilst at the same time being an unrelenting, all-out attack on the senses full of energy and malice, creating a deadly, intoxicating mixture that will entice wandering souls towards the Stygian darkness of the Abyss. The guitars sound like the wailing souls of the damned in the conflagration of Hell. The only rest on the album is the track Dormant Souls, an acoustic song which serves as a suitably melancholic closer for the first half of the album and helps prepare the listener for the bestial bludgeoning that is about to come. The cover of Last Ritual from the Possessed 1993 Demo is crushing and feels perfectly at home with the rest of the songs on this savage album. When the final song Inexorable Death comes crashing headlong into your eardrums, the Plutonian darkness will consume you and drag you into the gaping Maw of Hades. One element that I think deserves praise are the vocals of JR, which remind me to some extent of Martin van Drunen, being hideous tortured cries more than growls, and they perfectly suit the music, adding some taste of the Hadean fires from whence Ascended Dead were summoned. When solos come into play, it is more akin to the Morbid Angel style, being more akin to the frantic wailing of tortured souls than anything melodic or refined. The drums are prominent in the mix but not overpowering, which adds to the brutality without drowning out the vicious riffs that make this album such a killer slab of Death Metal.

8.25/10.