Ascension 'My Sick Salvation' E.P.
Reviewed by Martin Stapleton
Ascension had a successful EP launch here at Esquires in February. It's good to report just what a belligerent and explosive product they have produced for us to devour. How can I describe it? This is Saturday morning, living room or bedroom wake-up sounds or 80mph M1 motorway music. Whichever way you may care to listen to it, it's got to be played very loud to fully absorb and enjoy.
For starters, the band name contains such heavy religious connotations. The dictionary term is described thus "an ascent to heaven". Their change from the previous Chaos Faerie was perhaps, at first, difficult, but now with this CD their identity is sealed. The quartet comprise Mikey Russell (vocals), Ricky Chambers (guitar), Michele Grimaldi (guitar) and Lexi Brown (drums). On "My Sick Salvation" they offer a sumptious blend of zeitgeist hugging metalcore. Ascension, to their credit, actually spend time writing such refreshingly positive, if brutal lyrics. Being an old-fashioned glutton for a good tune, this is such a change from some young metal bands who think that playing and singing excessively loud is a substitute for a distinct lack of song structure.
Ascension have written and composed six extremely good songs. Their first track "The Hollowing" is a good case in point. A softly spoken opening line of "Drowning, drowning with the fallen angels, we're the last ones screaming in pain". This last word explodes with fury and a savage ferocity, in fact, much like the rest of the song. "Revelation" runs on pure high-octane premium guitar fuel. "Inverse" holds us in a drumming headlock from which there is simply no escape. "The Damage" returns Ascension to that religious path. It ends with Mikey lyrically asking "and if Jesus loves me so much then why the f*** isn't he returning my messages?". "Goodbye 2.0" is a veritable pot pourri of violently unstable sounds. It's gripping and always unforgiving. Last song "Ivory" gives us a chance to draw breath. Indeed, compared to the rest of the EP, it could almost be described as celestial. At times beautifully layered, while straying occasionally to something deceptively intense.
"My Sick Salvation" gains so much from its mixing and recording, which courtesy of John Browne and Neema Askari (from the excellent Fell Silent) is of superb quality. With impressive design work, in the CD inlay Ascension even manage to thank rule 34! To find out about that you will have to purchase "My Sick Salvation".