Album Review: Ingested - Ashes Lie Still
Reviewed by Daniel Phipps
I think you would have a tough time finding a band who kept as busy over the last 4 years as Ingested. An album (The Level Above Human) followed by extensive touring in 2018, an EP (Call of the Void) with further touring in 2019 and then 2020 happened, with no touring the band released yet another full length (Where Only Gods May Tread) and then went back into the archives and re-recorded their second album (The Surreption II) as they were not able to re-release the original recording. Well even with the explosion of touring since live music returned Ingested still kept the creative juice flowing and now are set to release Ashes Lie Still which is the first album under their deal with none other than Metal Blade.
What instantly first hits you is the continued development of Ingested as songwriters. Ashes Lie Still contains all the aggression and volatility that you would expect from a death metal record but they have added scope to make the overall experience a lot more epic in sound. I got this initial vibe from the band's 2018 (TLAH) record that they wanted to add a more dark sinister undertone to that record. That was toned down for a more direct straight up approach for (WOGMT) and now Ingested have brought that darker feeling back but with a twist, one it’s much more in your face on Ashes Lie Still and two it’s far better executed right from the top. Now let’s not get too ahead of ourselves, yes Ingested have modified and expanded on the band's formula but this is still a downright nasty record.
The battery duo of Sean Hynes and Lynn Jeffs have crafted an arsenal of tracks, they still have superb groove and flow and Lynns drumming is about as consistent as you can get. What I’ve really enjoyed is the balance of the guitars and the drums so when the riffs hit those slammy chugging riffs the guitar and drums are equally matched in the mix and at no point do the drums make you lose the more intricate guitar work which is layed down extensively on the record. Jason Evans' vocal range is massive in sound, he has definitely made alterations to his delivery as you don’t get the same ultra guttural vibe which you heard on a record like “Surpassing The Boundaries of Human Suffering” but what he delivers is absolutely furious. Joining Jason on the record vocally is Aborted frontman Sven De Caluwé, Trivium’s Matt Heafy and Julia Frau who’s vocal style originally was planned to acts as a synth backing up the chorus section on the title track but ended up forming more than that with experimentation during the tracking process.
Now if you are worried all the expansion on the bands formula is going to deliver some form of watered down record then “Echos of Hate” will remove all doubts. This is an absolute tank of a tune up there with some of the band's best work, and I really hope this ends up as part of the live selection from this album.
Ashes Lie Still is just an all out tank of an album, full of severely vicious songs. It’s definitely an accessible record so people who are not a typical death metal fan will find things they like, just as much as your more hardened death metal fans will enjoy a corker of a release.
