Ingested continues to reign.
Since 2006, the English band regularly crushes us with its devastating Slam Death, and in 2022 Jay Evans (vocals), Sean Hynes (guitar) and Lyn Jeffs (drums), after signing with Metal Blade Records, announce the release of Ashes Lie Still, their seventh album.
On stage, the band is accompanied by Ross « Lenny » McLennan (guitar, ex-Ross « Lenny » McLennan, ex-Viscera) or Miles Baker (guitar, Interloper, ex-Rings of Saturn), and they once again entrusted Dom Grimard (The Last Felony, live for Carnifex, Cryptopsy) bass recording.
The band starts with Ashes Lie Still, the eponymous track, with Julia Frau‘s sweet voice adding a slight touch of melancholy to the heavy darkness answering the raw and jerky aggression. The mysterious final guides us to Shadows in Time, a much more straightforward but still heavy composition which lets the vocalist lead the assault with a wide range of screams and backing vocals, but also heady melodies before You’ll Never Learn finally comes to crush us with a massive groove. Thick riffs mix with unhealthy harmonics while placing devastating moshparts as Tides of Glass feeds the oppression with a dissonant and dark introduction on which the band lets its fury run free before coming back in an efficient and jerky heaviness, driving us to From Hollow Words, track on which the band welcomes Sven de Caluwé (Aborted, Coffin Feeder, Fetal Blood Eagle…). The musicians offer us one of the most aggressive rhythmics by dipping into their most violent roots to let the vocalists duo go wild until Sea of Stone plunges us again in this heavy darkness followed by efficient riffs infused with pure rage. There is a majestic touch on the last part of the song, which will give way to All I’ve Lost, a striking track with Matthew K. Heafy (Trivium, Ibaraki) which will reveal surprising and intense tones, creating a contrast with the band’s raw violence. The clean vocal parts coupled with melodies are incredibly impressive, but they will eventually fade away to let With Broken Wings hit us with tones which sometimes remind us of their first releases, while sporting a very modern sound. Deathcore roots particularly stand out on the jerky break, while Echoes of Hate borrows from the slower, more modern sounds before including ominous leads to tie the moshparts together, before leading us to Scratch the Vein and its worrying airy introduction. Cold Black Metal roots take over the rhythmic, but it doesn’t take long for the musicians to let more aggressive patterns resurface to pace the haunting composition, then Rebirth closes the album with a familiar basis from earlier this year, which has been remixed for the occasion, and blends their different influences.
Ingested‘s march is unstoppable. As regular for releases as for their quality, the band proves to us track after track that they do not come in peace with Ashes Lie Still, which promises explosive shows.
90/100