‘The Alteration’ is the debut-album of Ascendant, a death/black-metal band from Denmark, that used to work under the name ‘Amorém’ since 2006, but changed names as they think of this album as a new chapter to their story.
Josua, Levi, Thomas, Kristoffer and Jens use different musical styles, but mainly tend to move around the death-metal-area. Heavy riffs, repeating rhythms and raw grunts are the standard, but diversity comes around the corner as black-screams, melodic heavy-metal guitar-solos and grinding hardcore-rhythms are integrated in the sound as well.
Knowing that almost everything is already done in death-metal and every metal-sound-combination already has been made, I think it’s brave that these guys still try to find a new sound. Not that they necessarily succeed, as many musical colleagues come to mind while listening these 11 tracks, but their attempt is worth mentioning. Take for instance the parts where the individual instrumentalists are given their private moments (bass in Let’s Mount Up, drums in Disgrace For Stagnation and even some clean-vocal-harmony’s in Consolation). The massive production helps to take this band serious.
If I could be so frank to give a suggestion for the next album, I would suggest to expand more on the melodic guitar-parts (as done in Degradation), but overall I think ‘The Alteration’ is a good debut-album, that fans of Sympathy, Immortal Souls, For Today and Sacrificium should check out. The 45-minutes of metal are convincing enough to think Ascendant is a band to stay. We all know however that a good album in itself is not enough. Finding your way around the scene without a record-label, will ask extra creativity and perseverance. I hope Ascendent will find both!
Written by Hans van Vuuren, July 2012
Rating: 8/10
Bandmembers:
Josua Poulsen – Vocals
Kristoffer Vammen – Lead Guitar
Thomas Langvad – Rhythm Guitar
Jens Gronhoj – Bass, Vocals
Levi Rauff – Drums
Tracklist:
1. The Alteration
2. Legacy
3. Shadow Of Wealth
4. Degradation Part I
5. Degradation Part II
6. Let’s Mount Up
7. Unveil
8. Disgrace For Stagnation
9. Consolation
10. The Astral Sleep
11. Epilog: Catharsis
Record Label: Independent, 2012