Review Summary: Thulcandra releases this year's refreshing and faintly nostalgic melodic black metal album that pays homage to the classics, while progressing the band's sound just enough to where it doesn't feel tired or familiar.
Beginning as a celebration of Swedish black metal, each of Thulcandra's releases have shown a willingness to experiment and step out from the shadow of their inspirations and influences. After a challenging beginning to their existence, Thulcandra quickly made a significant mark in modern black metal while featuring synths and acoustic guitars to vary up their sound.
Ascension Lost continues their evolution largely in the same vein, with a few notable improvements. Album opener "The First Rebellion" begins with their usual acoustic and arpeggiated electric guitar duo before plunging into a thrashy groove. It ratchets up the speed, eventually giving way to blistering guitar riffs and tremolo picking. Thulcandra have proven that they can write black metal epics with brutal effectiveness, and "The First Rebellion" is no exception. "Demigod Imprisoned" begins similarly, but quickly distinguishes itself with one of the most melancholic choruses of the album. A slowed down atmospheric bridge provides a much needed respite from the pedal-to-the-metal insanity, but that element of their sound rarely repeats for the remainder of the album's runtime. A one minute acoustic guitar interlude provides a break in the speed demons around the middle, the strongest among them being "Exalted Resistance" and "Sorrow of the One".
One noticeable improvement
Ascension Lost features over previous outings are the extended guitar solos. Most tracks, especially the epics, make use of more dynamic and extended solos to beef up potentially tired ideas. "The Second Fall" in particular has one of the band's most depressive and emotive solos over complex drumming. Thulcandra have never ceased to make a conscious effort to make each track varied and special, in one way or another. A major strength of
Ascension Lost is its ability to keep Thulcandra's sound fresh, without necessarily changing their formula in any significant way. Steffen Kummerer's tormented shrieks have changed the least out of the trio's contributions, but it never really needed to. His screams exhibit just as much torment and frenetic torment as ever, if not more so.
Every aspect of Thulcandra's musical style has improved in one way or another. The bass guitar is unfortunately still largely inaudible, mainly following what the rhythm guitar is playing. However, leads and solos are the main centerpiece of
Ascension Lost, and for the band as a whole. The Dissection and Unanimated influences are still present, their original intention as a band fully intact. However, their willingness to continue experimenting and progressing keeps their musical style from growing stale. Extended instrumental sections, more technical drumming, and more complex guitar solos make this the band's strongest release to date.
Ascension Lost is this year's refreshing and faintly nostalgic melodic black metal album that pays homage to the classics, while progressing the group's sound just enough to where it doesn't feel tired or familiar.
