{"id":73071,"date":"2018-08-18T00:00:54","date_gmt":"2018-08-18T00:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=73071"},"modified":"2018-09-30T18:43:55","modified_gmt":"2018-09-30T18:43:55","slug":"album-review-ancestor-lords-of-destiny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-ancestor-lords-of-destiny\/","title":{"rendered":"ANCESTOR – Lords Of Destiny (2018) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

ANCESTOR
Lords Of Destiny<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nAwakening (2018)<\/span>
Rating: 8.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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We\u2019re back on another New Wave Of Old School Thrash Metal trip with this Chinese quartet, who began life in 2007. The combo has certainly been quiet though, releasing just one EP (Age Of Overload<\/em>) prior to this in 2017, but Lords Of Destiny<\/em> is a reasonable thrash album that I\u2019d happily recommend to anyone. <\/p>\n

Thirty-six minutes of music are offered, which means we get nine solid tracks that build nicely from the introductory rumbles of the instrumental \u2018Rise By Sin\u2019. This opening track is well-measured and a touch intricate, although rather let down by the thin production, but things soon get under way in the speed department with the frantic \u2018Deathlike Silence\u2019 which opts for a very raw, almost South American-styled brand of thrash mixed with early Slayer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what I like about the album; there\u2019s a genuine feel of primitive powers at work as the clan embarks upon savage bass licks, rugged drum patterns and fleeting, scurrying riffs which weave webs of complexity but above all express volatile lashings in abundance. Vocally, there\u2019s a lo-fi rasp to drag us into the murkiness. I\u2019m glad that the lyrics are sung in English, as we get to really appreciate the talents of this posse as they dabble with varying tempos to create, at times, a fusty Teutonic style too. Take for instance the melodious strains of \u2018The Final Worship\u2019, which simmers with such quality before the band resorts to infectious trad\u2019 metal rumbling while also reminding me of Possessed circa The Eyes Of Horror<\/em> EP (1987). <\/p>\n

\u2018Black Future\u2019 again displays levels of complexity but ups the speed. All hails to some of the bass playing on this opus too, those juddering strings refusing to play second fiddle to the guitar while the drums remain consistent in their battering. That\u2019s even if the production \u2013 whether intentional or not (most likely not) \u2013 doesn\u2019t allow each instrument to gleam. Because Lords Of Destiny<\/em> lacks polish, we get that sepulchral, eerie air about proceedings, showcased on the grisly rush of \u2018Savage Action\u2019, which again features a killer solo. Closer \u2018Inner Struggle\u2019 goes even further, meanwhile, the solo wildly weaving its pattern before the classic Slayer-styled lashes come into focus as again the band are off on one of those raw, primitive journeys. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s really hard to highlight flaws on an album that is so quintessentially 80s in its style, and it is also rather refreshing to hear a record that doesn\u2019t imitate the cartoon side of the genre. Instead, we get a rather serious, if at times grey and caustic composition that barks like old Sodom, and so hats off to vocalist Meng Li for those understated yet engaging snarls which ruse to override the rest of the instruments, the final result then being a rather ugly, tight and cutting debut of some quality.<\/p>\n

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

ANCESTORLords Of Destiny Awakening (2018)Rating: 8.5\/10 We\u2019re back on another New Wave Of Old School Thrash Metal trip with this Chinese quartet, who began life in 2007. The combo has certainly been quiet though, releasing just one EP (Age Of Overload) prior to this in 2017, but Lords Of Destiny is a reasonable thrash album […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,4158],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-ancestor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73071","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=73071"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73075,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73071\/revisions\/73075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}