Do you love tossing on a record that is just crushing from start to finish? I mean regardless of dynamics where even the quiet parts make you feel that the heaviness could simply collapse in around your ear drums while the record spins because Bloodlands is definitely one of those records, and with it, Ash Borer is certainly staking their claim as a force to be reckoned with in underground metal as a whole.
Still not convinced?
Bloodlands should convince even the most skeptical metal aficionado (that or you just have no soul) that Ash Borer could be on the cusp of bursting up out of the underground niche that they have consumed and launching into another level of notoriety (some of their die hard early fans might be retching at more people getting into them, but good for the band if that’s what they want). Ominous tension abounds in “Oblivion’s Spring”, and the mood is thick and suffocating (the way that only band’s with a firm grasp of their musical powers could create); one reason that may explain the effects of the song might be in what sounds like an almost “Wall of Sound” approach to composition that just pummels my record player while the guitar leads and dynamics are completely magnified by the overall mix, but , given that, Ash Borer seems to channel new influences on this album that I either have completely missed before (as “Oblivion’s Spring” definitely has moments that remind me of The Cure without being obvious about it) giving the album some real depth and nuance.
The B-side of this LP may somehow be even more frantic (not the whole time as the band certainly exploits dynamics to the fullest here as well) making the title of one of the tracks a bit of a misnomer as “Dirge” is anything but, and what I feel is “Purgation” (the tracks run into each other on the B-side so it is not 100% clear if I am correct with this) adds an element of noise and discordance that prevents any kind of “metal fatigue” (you know when listening to metal and somewhere you forget how long you were listening to an album or what not) from setting in and enhances the guitar leads or maybe even makes them pop more.
Though I am not sure exactly where I would place Bloodlands in the discography of Ash Borer, it ranks up there as the record keeps finding its way onto my turntable; but really that does not matter because the record is just one more excellent entry from the band in a steadily growing testament to the band’s sterling reputation for powerful heavy music, and, hopefully it will serve to tide me over until the next record that they drop.
