ASHEN HORDE

An alluring anomaly amid modern metal's formulaic stasis, "The Harvest" is the kind of low-key, underground release that deserves a bigger audience than the one it is likely to get. ASHEN HORDE have been plugging away on the fringes of the progressive extreme metal scene for the last decade, releasing four excellent albums and cultivating a small but inarguable reputation as one of California's most intriguing metal acts. With their fifth album, they have refined and redefined their all-encompassing sound and turned into something genuinely special. "The Harvest" is an all-action avalanche of great ideas, incisive melodies and immersive complexity, and an absolute must-hear for students of heavy music's adventurous wing. Unsigned and unsung, this band deserve your attention.

Originally a one-man project led by multi-instrumentalist Trevor Portz, ASHEN HORDE have been a fully-fledged band since 2019. "The Harvest" follows 2023's "Antimony", a fleshed-out, evolutionary leap forward from the already pretty sophisticated prog metal blend that Portz was peddling early on. Like its predecessor, this album owes a certain amount to prog-loving big names like OPETH, ENSLAVED and IHSAHN, but any similarities to other acts are balanced out by the sheer, joyful abandon and fearless creativity on display. A forward-thinking, open-door policy ensures that ASHEN HORDE are never too tightly tethered to any one subgenre or style, and even at their most straightforward, these songs exhibit a mischievous desire to keep shaking things up and to defy lazy categorization.

The opening "Autumnal" says it all: atmospheric, brimming with energy, and lightly charred by black metal flames, it swiftly transcends the expected and switches nimbly between seething, cold-hearted extremity and triumphant, grandiloquent melody, with every transition executed with impressive fluidity. From churning, death metal atonality to epic flashes of virtuosity, ASHEN HORDE have a profound grasp of how intricate songwriting can transcend its superficial knottiness. Guitar hooks and vocal melodies play a disarming, central role, as these songs steadily reveal their secrets, while also maintaining an invigorating base level of brutality. On the stunning "Entropy and Ecstasy", powerful clean vocals lead the way, underscored by bursts of machine-gun savagery and some inspired chord choices. "Backward Momentum" offers a twisted barrage of blackened fury, replete with ferocious blastbeats and some wicked, VOIVOD-like riffs and eerie dissonance. Tempo shifts and intuitive textural changes are a constant, simmering force here, but nothing impedes the natural flow of Portz's endlessly subtle songwriting. From the brooding, grunge-like vocal melodies that perfectly complement the otherwise foul and menacing "Voids In The Ash", to the restless, high-velocity swirl that propels "Apparition" from venomous, blasting start to angular, gleefully infernal finish, "The Harvest" is a remarkably eventful and satisfying piece of work that stands shoulder-to-shoulder with recent, like-minded albums from RIVERS OF NIHIL, IATT and VALE OF PNATH.

For those who crave depth and diversity from their extreme metal, ASHEN HORDE are a formidable and irresistible proposition.