Album Review: Assumption – Paradox Of The Arrow

Album Review: Assumption – Paradox Of The Arrow

Reviewed by Sam Jones

Seeing Assumption are gearing to unleash their third full length record by the year’s end was a wondrous thing to learn given how momentous Hadean Tides had been for their name. Formed in 2011 out of Palermo, Sicily, Assumption perform death/doom in a traditional way with lengthy tracks and crushing tone accompanied by guttural vocals dredging the bedrock of the earth. Their first album, Absconditus, released in 2018 and whilst it would be another 4 years until they released their follow-up, Hadean Tides is the record the band needed to really get their name out into the wider world. Having watched them perform at Kill-Town Death Fest last year myself I can verify they’re a quality act worth seeing. Now come November 13th the band prepare to unveil their third record: Paradox Of The Arrow. Signing on to 20 Buck Spin this new chapter could prove enormous for the band given the record label’s stellar track record in picking up sublime bands. Hadean Tides was a favourite of mine upon release and thus I was more than excited to dive into Paradox Of The Arrow with zero apprehension.

Something that’s often overlooked regarding Assumption’s death/doom is how downright cinematic their atmosphere often feels. Though their aim is to bludgeon your cerebral hemispheres into pink paste, there’s something at play in the background. It’s something megalithic, sweeping through songwriting, enveloping it entirely, the oncoming tidal wave one can only stand and watch as its voluminous mass and scale only barrels towards you with exponentially increasing strength. You know it’s coming, beckoning you to take its full weight, and when it does the riffs hit you with the impact akin to a magnitude nine earthquake. As a result, when the band perform its more than just instrumental and vocal grandeur bellowing at you; Assumption break every wall between themselves and yourself and place you in the track in question, in the moment. It’s an effective way of immersing their audience more than just cranking the volume or tone to eleven.

The bass and drumming here are simply magnificent as Assumption leave nothing to chance to render your insides complete jelly. At every discernible moment the bass can be heard and followed as basslines develop along with general songwriting. This is all the more satisfying due to how thick the basslines feel, how they permeate through even the most despicable sounding drums and vocals summoning eldritch beasts from the deep. I’d argue, in terms of impact and presence the bass and drums have greater standing within the mix than the riffs do, though mustn’t thereby fool ourselves into believing the guitar work doesn’t possess massive power. It’s rare to hear the drums pick up any significant tempo here but speed isn’t where their quality lies; even the most mundane drum strikes have enough promise and presence in them to keep you invested and waiting for that incoming satisfaction of strength.

Whilst their bass and drums are undeniably huge and are what will keep you rooted and listening, their guitar work is what actively drives forth that desire to keep attentively listening. Their riffs harness an equal appearance of presence albeit with a little less strength going into their tone; typically this could be detrimental as an album such as this would desire riffs to be all consuming. But had the band mirrored the guitar tone with bass and drums in the mix you could have a record weighted too greatly towards devastation, perhaps something fans would welcome, but it’s not Assumption’s angle given how their sound often leans towards mellower and nigh-psychedelic vistas. The half-step back away from the bass and drumming actually helps these riffs stand out, and harbouring a gentler tone than the rest of their instrumentation enables them to convey greater definition, especially as soloing is employed and more avant-garde songwriting as depicted in “Southwards Our Spirits Shall Forever Drift”.

I repeat Assumption greatly because as you listen you’ll find sequences fed where perhaps the strength and content grip on your psyche may fade away or utterly drop entirely. Assumption trust their audience to keep listening even as their songwriting relaxes and they undergo lulls where their direction, in that moment, isn’t automatically assured or recognised. Though Assumption come here to perform death/doom we can’t shoehorn the band into one corner alone, Hadean Tides teased something of this calibre but Paradox Of The Arrow certainly indulges that aspect to greater degrees than we’ve thus heard yet. I can’t help but feel this record has the strongest sense of focus Assumption have released so far, for whilst their sound is vast and lengthy tracks are the norm I had this inkling the band always knew where I would be going and what their songwriting could do to make that happen. A great strength to the record is its knowing when to pull back and when to activate its nitrous, it’s not going to berate your senses at every moment and it’s that room for movement and breathing that allows us to take in Assumption’s sound in its entirety.

In conclusion, Paradox Of The Arrow sees Assumption continue their avant-garde approach to death/doom though I believe this work succeeds Hadean Tides are numerous fronts. I think it’s much more focused and refined in songwriting and instrumental presence, via the mix and production, than Hadean Tides. It’s nearly a full fifteen minutes shorter than that aforementioned record so the band don’t need to stretch out their songwriting than they need to this time round, it’s given them the choice to cut out the fat and include explicitly what they feel is best putting on record. Songwriting always has purpose and direction here, across each track and there wasn’t a minute where I didn’t know what the band had in mind. Even throughout those phases where their sound occasionally crossed into these transient lulls where riffs and strength fade into formless psychedelia, I was always transfixed on what they were doing because it’s so removed from death/doom in conventional extreme metal. Do I think this record is outrightly better than Hadean Tides? That’s hard to say. Do I think this record possesses greater focus, defined direction and reasons to return? Absolutely. Paradox Of The Arrow sees the band maintain their exemplary standard of quality whilst pushing their sound unto new frontiers, expanding what an Assumption opus means for us as fans and with finer, lasting feelings determining our opinions on this record. November is spoiling us with great releases and Assumption, through 20 Buck Spin, are another providing such.

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