ASH BORER — Cold of Ages (review)

ASH BORER — Cold of Ages album cover Album · 2012 · Atmospheric Black Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
Time Signature
Phantoms...

Genre: black metal

Ash Borer is an American atmosperic black metal band, and "Cold of Ages" is a follow up to their eponymous debut from 2011.

After a suitably colds and chilling intro, the album kicks into what sounds like your run-of-the mill boring black metal release. However, the listener soon realizes that, although Ash Borer draws aplenty on the genre typical features of black metal, there is a lot of interesting stuff going on. Amidst the tremolo picking and blastbeating madness, the band offers psychedelic organ-effects and nicely placed accentuations on various cymbals. The opening track features a number of outof-the-blue changes and a doom-ladden bridge. 'Phantoms' is a journey from depression to rage, taking the listener through various dark vistas and impressions, while 'Convict All Flesh' is the sountrack to the apocalypse. 'Removed Forms' combines the atmospheric with the intense and features a melodic breakdown which provides a nice contrast to that chaotic evil that characterizes the album.

So, we are dealing with black metal which simultaneously pays homage to the genre, aking use of several of its conventions, but at the same time adds to it. The tracks on the album are fairly long, and the mosic is cold, brooding, and meandering, so this is an album you have to take your time to listen to in order to appreciate it.

The production is a bit murky and the mastering somewhat imbalanced. And for some reason the volume of the final master is very low. I know that, within black metal, such lo-fi production has aesthetic value, but there is so much interesting stuff going on here that it actually bothers me a bit that a lot of it drowns in the production.

Fans of atmospheric black metal who do not mind a bit of innovation should check out this album.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Hin helga kvöl Atmospheric Sludge Metal
SÓLSTAFIR
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Cycles of Suffering Black Metal
BURIAL OATH
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Suns of Perdition - Chapter IV: To Shadow Zion Black Metal
PANZERFAUST
Buy this album from MMA partners
Facilis Descensus Averno Death Metal
SAEVUS FINIS
Buy this album from MMA partners
Merciless Crossover Thrash
BODY COUNT
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

DAWN OF REVENGE - Sanctuary [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Farewell [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Curtain of Death - [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Vengeance [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - I Need You [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed