Vancouver's Anciients have been doing their thing since
2009 and in that time have released one EP,"
Snakebeard" (
2011), and two well received full length albums "
Heart Of Oak" (2013) and "
Voice of the Void" (
2016). Recording wise
Anciients may not be the most prolific of bands but what their catalogue lacks in output it has sure made up for in quality, To say the band have always had one foot in the camp of
prog and one foot in the camp of
metal would be correct but also a simplification of what
Anciients bring to the table with their music, there is an abundance of heaviness and complexity to be found in
Anciients' musical attack but it is a heaviness and complexity tempered with moments of melodic languidity and lilting serenity. The bands current line up of
Kenny Cook (guitar/vocals);
Brock MacInnes (guitar);
Rory O'Brien (bass) and
Mike Hannay (drums) have just released the bands third full length album "
Beyond the Reach of the Sun" on the
Season of Mist label, an album
Desert Psychlist predicts will be gracing many end of year "
best of" lists.
It is inevitable that there will be those comparing what
Anciients do musically with the likes of
Opeth,
DVNE,
Huntsmen and
Mastodon, simply due to the
progressive metal leanings of
Anciients musical attack, however in our opinion
Anciients are their own animal with their own unique sound and identity. If you take "
Forbidden Sanctuary", the opening track of "
Beyond the Reach of the Sun", you will soon notice that although the songs guitar tones possess a
sludgy complex heaviness there is also a ringing quality to those tones that is almost
post-rock in texture, and in places even
surf-like. Even when the clear and superbly delivered clean vocals make way for low bear like harshness and the drumming becomes a thunderous display of ferocity and power those guitar and bass tones retain their clarity and sharpness and never once fall into the trap of becoming an overpowering and brutal noise. "
Despoiled" follows and boasts a superb clean vocal melody into which bouts of guttural harshness are routinely injected, the groove carrying this melody, a blend of deathly
blackened metals, is taken to another level by its furious drumming and intricate yet thrumming chord progressions. We mentioned
Opeth earlier and "
Is It Your God" sees
Anciients jamming a groove that sits somewhere between the early
death metal sound of that
Swedish bands output and the more
neo-classical prog of the present-day
Opeth module, all of this while also boasting a guitar intro that sounds suspiciously like a re-arrangement of the one that introduces
Heaven & Hell's "
Bible Black". Next track "
Melt the Crown" begins with gentle guitar noodling then slowly builds its part up layer by layer gradually growing more
blackened and
progressive as it evolves yet still managing to maintain that clarity and crystal clean sharpness we spoke of earlier. And so it goes on throughout the rest of this incredible album with the songs "
Cloak of the Vast and Black", "
Celestial Tyrant", "
Beyond Our Minds", "
The Torch", "
Candescence" and "
In the Absence of Wisdom" each managing to out trump its predecessor in its levels of intensity, complexity and overall impact, the whole album a truly rewarding listening experience that deserves to be listened to in its entirety, start to finish, to best fully appreciate its majesty.
Anciients "Beyond the Reach of the Sun" is the sound of a band at the very top of their game, the musicianship is off the scale impressive, the vocals are a delicious mix of melodic and growly and the lyrics are poetically cryptic and thought provoking. For those of you out there who love their music crushingly complex instrumentally intricate and unbelievably powerful it really doesn't get better than this.
© 2024 Frazer Jones
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