Slam

The seventh album from Ingested is one of their best so far, Ashes Lie Still.

UK death metal band Ingested has been on a tear these past few years, releasing three albums in as many years. This is a picked-up pace even compared to the steady track they were on. The band is now a trio – Jason Evans (vocals), Sean Hynes (guitar, backing vocals), and Lyn Jeffs (drums) – but the sound they produce is just has heavy and brutal as it has been since the beginning sixteen years ago.

There are ten tracks on the new album. Guest musicians augment the core band on many songs. On the opening piece, “Ashes Lie Still,” Julia Frau adds a melodic interaction to the brutal, cross growling vocals. Languid lines float over the killing attacks, like blue skies during a stabbing. The syncopation and the periodic entry of hissing black metalish vocal passages further bend and curb any potential subgenre descriptive labels. This one plumbs your depths. “Shadows in Time” seems at first a little more straight-forward, but it is ravaging and relentless, rather like having your teeth cleaned with a shotgun. And, too, here, there are disequilibrium forces at work pushing the musical narrative this way and that. No respite.

The entire album is challenging and entertaining, cracking off in different directions with darkly gleeful abandon. I am especially impressed by “All I’ve Lost,” a song that has a guest appearance by Matt Heafy. Its early quiet attitude builds tension given the music that has come before – you know it is going off the rails soon and that makes you dig your fingernails into your leg as the sound builds. Excellent. “Scratch the Vein” is another one to look out for. It has a more measured tempo overall, and an added weight. Altogether, this record gets high marks and is one of my favorites from the band so far. Recommended.