It is time for Assumption’s second album.
Created in 2011 in Italy by Giorgio (guitar/vocals/keyboards, Becerus, Bottomless, ex-Haemophagus…) and David (drums, Bottomless, ex-Gravesite, ex-Haemophagus…), the band releases its first demo in 2012. In 2021, they formalize the recruitment of Claudio Troise (bass, Tenebra, ex-Gravesite) and Matija Dolinar (guitar, Siderean, ex-Teleport), who were live members, then announce Hadean Tides at Everlasting Spew Records and Sentient Ruin Laboratories, in 2022.
The album opens with Oration, a very heavy song which immediately becomes weighing and devastating. Dissonant riffs let the massive howlings enter into this haunting and effective basis, then majestic and dark leads join the battlefield before the coming of Submerged By Hadean Tides, a less aggressive song which lets clean sonorities surround us before thicker riffs surface again. The song is still quite groovy and hooking, letting an epic solo and worrying influences driving us to Daughters Of The Lotus, a slow wave which imperceptibly accelerates to drown us under its weighing melancholy. Suddenly, the rhythmic of this long song explodes, revealing a devastating aggressiveness before slowing down again while being still heady. Breath Of The Dedalus comes next, letting ghostly noises ramble in the background, creating a dark veil before The Liquescent Hours comes to expose us its slowness and unhealthy screams. A faster and more abrasive part is also expected to create a dynamic contrast, then the rhythm part slows down again before Tryptich offers a strange ambience. The sound is first really quiet, and a bit syncopated while letting an interesting place, then some saturated parts can be heard, mainly on the end of the song, driving us to Black Trees Waving, the final track, which lasts nearly a quarter. Funeral Doom influences are playing into this composition, but also airy or crazier hints, like this furious solo which comes to life on a heavy basis, then the second part of the song unveils very soaring elements before definitely coming to its end.
With this new album, Assumption shows us its strength through slowness and oppression. Hadean Tides is a very weighing, very dark album, but it is also very majestic, and it will convince its audience between Doom and dismal Death Metal.
80/100