September 2022 Feature Release – The Infinite Edition

This month sees a return to the slightly more avant-garde for The Infinite with Ashenspire's breakout sophomore release Hostile Architecture, released just last month. This release has seen quite a bit of praise this year and, in my opinion for good reason. It's a white-knuckled and emotionally bleak journey through the fundamentally broken world we live in, although Ashenspire makes sure to keep the scope painfully local to their hometown of Glasgow. I've found Hostile Architecture to be incredibly powerful while still pushing Progressive Metal boundaries in ways that are exciting and fresh. 

https://metal.academy/releases/38576

If Ashenspire did have any black metal roots then they've certainly been tossed aside for this highly regarded sophomore effort, haven't they? It's definitely an unusual release & one that does sit pretty comfortably under the avant-garde progressive metal tag. The most noteworthy elements on display are the theatrical & almost psychotic clean vocals of drummer Alasdair Dunn who continues to rant like a man possessed in his unapologetically Scottish accent throughout the entire tracklisting, mostly speaking or shouting more than actually singing. The other is the use of some extremely jarring time signatures that do tend to interrupt the flow of the song-writing at times. The ambition is undeniable but the execution isn't quite what I'd hoped, particularly the performance of Dunn behind the kit as his drum sound isn't ideal for metal (it's more in line with jazz) & he sounds pretty messy when he gets his blast beats on. The use of violin is done very well & brings to mind Ne Obliviscaris as it provides a little stability in even the most chaotic of movements while the overtly Scottish & emotionally charged vocals combine with some of the more sweeping black metal oriented chord progressions to remind me of Irish folk metal legends Primordial. The sheer insanity & creativity is more in line with a band like Arcturus though.

As you can probably tell, I struggled with "Hostile Architecture" a little bit at times but I can't deny that my overall impressions after four full listens were generally positive. There's no doubt that it's Dunn that's my major obstacle here & I can't deny that I would greatly prefer a more traditional & talented front man but I think I find it hard not to look on a pure form of artistic expression like this one with fondness & endearment as it's not all that common in a market that's saturated by copy cats. In saying that though, I can't say that I'm likely to return to the album in the future. It's an experience that I'm glad that I've had but it simply doesn't tick enough of my boxes to command any level of adoration.

For fans of Primordial, Ne Obliviscaris & Arcturus.

3.5/5

A bit of a contentious album here.

Ashenspire have some chops, no doubt about it. When I heard this record for the first time, I was absolutely floored by the compositional techniques used to tell some awfully grim stories. The technicality of Hostile Architecture never feels overindulgent or as a medium for instrumentalists to wank; their purpose was to further the narrative and I appreciate that in a subgenre that seems too ignorant to this concept.

But as I said in my review, it's the vocals that bring it down considerably. Despite what so many people would like to believe, it's the performance, not the content that leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. Artsy (political) post-rock has this obsession with plainspoken vocals that have no sense of flow, groove or momentum. And as someone who doesn't relate at all to the content on display, I felt like I was being lectured to by a teacher for a class I had no interest in taking, but need credit for in order to graduate. Rage Against The Machine's political music was a statement, whereas as Ashenspire has the passion, but none of the precision. This score would have been several points higher if it was an instrumental record.

6/10