{"id":54770,"date":"2017-04-21T00:00:02","date_gmt":"2017-04-21T00:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=54770"},"modified":"2017-04-29T17:34:31","modified_gmt":"2017-04-29T17:34:31","slug":"album-review-ancient-ascendant-raise-the-torch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-ancient-ascendant-raise-the-torch\/","title":{"rendered":"ANCIENT ASCENDANT – Raise The Torch (2017) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

ANCIENT ASCENDANT
Raise The Torch<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nCandlelight (2017)<\/span>
Rating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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When I read that this British based quartet had shared the stage with the likes of Bolt Thrower, Sodom, Enslaved, Hypocrisy, Pestilence and Bloodbath, my expectations for Ancient Ascendant went sky high.<\/p>\n

Every band I just mentioned is an \u201cA\u201d lister in the metal realm, but Bolt Thrower is the clincher. If you can share that<\/em> stage with that<\/em> calibre of band and make it work, you have my respect, and Ancient Ascendant earned it as soon as soon as I heard song number two, \u2018Our Way\u2019, on their third full-length record, Raise The Torch<\/em>. I\u2019m not kidding when I say it grabbed me through the speakers and shook holy hell out of me. Yeah, this band\u2019s worthy. Hails!<\/p>\n

Raise The Torch<\/em> is an exercise in how damn good a band can be when they take the time to hone their songwriting skills and really tune in to the spirit of music itself, in this case, the many facets of that which metal offers.<\/p>\n

I mentioned Bolt Thrower above, true masters at that craft. They knew how to make heavy music; when to play fast, when to slow down, and when to just rock the hell out, and that intimate knowledge of how to skillfully construct songs, in this fashion, really shines through with Raise The Torch<\/em>. It\u2019s not speed for speed or death growls because that\u2019s what\u2019s expected from a band in this genre. The band\u2019s music is a dynamic woven tapestry of different metal styles that gel perfectly, in unison.<\/p>\n

Ancient Ascendant has really proven, with this record, how intuitive and masterful they are at understanding how to balance their overall sound, riding a razor\u2019s edge of melodic blackened death metal, which in the end, when it\u2019s all said and done, flows seamlessly. But it\u2019s all in technique, in how you pull it off, make it work, and Ancient Ascendant nails it, spot on throughout this record, an impressive feat for a band that\u2019s only been around eight years, having released two albums and two EPs to date, not counting Raise The Torch<\/em>. The band shows a lot of maturity on this disc since their debut EP, The Heathen Throne<\/em>, in 2008.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to pick stand out tunes on the album, but if hard pressed I\u2019d have to say \u2018Our Way\u2019, \u2018Foreign Skies\u2019 and \u2018Grasping The Torch\u2019; solid European-style metal at its finest with hints of Rotting Christ, Blood Red Throne and Winterfylleth scattered throughout, adding to the many layered, textured sound that is Ancient Ascendant, against a backdrop of traditional metal, \u00e0 la New Wave Of British Heavy Metal. Raise The Torch<\/em> is a keeper. Ancient Ascendant is a band on the radar, and sure to watch out for.<\/p>\n

Theron Moore<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ANCIENT ASCENDANTRaise The Torch Candlelight (2017)Rating: 8\/10 When I read that this British based quartet had shared the stage with the likes of Bolt Thrower, Sodom, Enslaved, Hypocrisy, Pestilence and Bloodbath, my expectations for Ancient Ascendant went sky high. Every band I just mentioned is an \u201cA\u201d lister in the metal realm, but Bolt Thrower […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3389],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ancient-ascendant"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54770"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54770\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54772,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54770\/revisions\/54772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}