This duo from USA earned tributes for their 2020 ep “Wounds Ever Expanding”. Progressive black metal is their style with infusions of atmospheric and technical elements. “Ash in Realms of Stone Icons” is their first full album release.

As the album builds up to “Condemned to a Life of Grief”, contrary to the title there is drama and majesty. Sweeping, heavy clouds roll though this lofty scene. There are touches of Opeth in the style but it’s more expansive with keyboard touches adding subtlety to the weighty fare. Progressive and technical, blackened rasps and deathly roars cut in it but’s the sheer intensity and power of the instrumentals which are making the most impression on me. The track rises still further into a breath-taking maelstrom of black progressive metal. Fire and fury then mark “In This Empty Space”. Frantic and urgent, this black metal whirlwind oozes drama. After a mellow interlude, we return to the angry skies “Where No Warmth Is Found”. Musically we are in the realms of technical death metal. In the midst of the fire there is an emotive progressive section, demonstrating the band’s versatility if nothing else. This weighty piece fades out in symphonic melancholy. “As Black Forms Grey” sounds like a statement of intent. Cue another 11 minute furious technical assault, but one which has quirks, twists and turns and culminates in choral and instrumental loftiness. I cannot escape a comparison in style with Persefone. The final piece is the 15 minute “Awake Into Eternal Slumber”. Bursting forward as if their lives depend on it, the instrumentals are flamboyant and fiery, overwhelming even. An acoustic passage leads to an intriguing bass guitar section, a recurrent but subtly infused element of this album, before the piece takes off again to deep, dark and as ever technical territory. The instrumental gymnastics take up a path of expanding path before a closing chorus supports the irrepressible instrumentals in bringing this epic and lofty work to a close.

I didn’t really get any sense of theme while listening to this track or the album as a whole, but like standing in the eye of a storm it’s impossible to ignore its power. I did appreciate its instrumental magnificence and intensity throughout. I can’t say I was madly keen on the vocals, especially the spiritual migration that the chorus presumably represents, but they don’t stop this album from being a potent force. The structure and those instrumentals on “Ash in Realms of Stone” signal explosive firepower but with deft touches and epic atmospheres.

(8/10 Andrew Doherty)

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https://tomarum.bandcamp.com/album/ash-in-realms-of-stone-icons