Friday 16 May 2014

Ascaris - Initiation

Self Released 2014
 
1.Debt of Sacrifice 2.The Pitiless Cycle 3. Sins of the Flesh 4.Crimson (Demo)
 
Gloucester trio Ascaris have unleashed their debut offering, a four track EP entitled "Initiation". Featuring one member of recently reviewed Body Harvest (Chris Barton) Ascaris base their music around a smorgasbord of cerebral contexts from a hatred of humanity and religion, philosophy and just for good measure some good old fashioned Lovecraft worship. Opening with "Debt of Sacrifice" the band make a fast and frantic start with raging drumming, maniacal riffs and a venomous vocal display and within the melee find time to include some malicious melodies too. In truth “The Pitiless Cycle” offers much of the same but the bands intensity is to be admired although some of their play feels a little thin at times and the booming cacophony I’d want to hear from this band isn’t produced. That said the bands cold, hard rhythms are endearing and that is half of the battle won!
“Sins of the Flesh” begins the downhill slide towards completion and I say downhill because there is now a professional quality to this EP that would really grate on the nerves if it was a longer release. However this sixteen minute release ends fairly soon with a demo version of “Crimson” which oddly enough through a lesser standard of production actually hits the right tempo of aggression and fuller bodied sound that I’d want to hear from the rest of the release. If the bands future endeavors match up to “Crimson” there may be hope for them yet!
 
6 Out Of 10 (Luke Hayhurst)
 
Band Page: Here

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