ALBUM REVIEW: Ashes Coalesce – Convocation

Finland’s CONVOCATION are one of the most impressive up and coming acts within the death doom scene. Blending a traditional mix of bleak and ferocious music with heady, Gothic overtones, the band’s first album, Scars Across provided some incredibly solid foundations for their sound, with huge rhythm sections, harsh gutturals and a powerful ambience giving this a dark, yet sublime sound. Their latest album, Ashes Coalesce, builds upon this already substantial sound with more impressive and diverse musicianship on all fronts, creating a leaner and more focused album that stands as a new benchmark for the band and their sound.

Martyrise, with its slow, atmospheric build up, gives way to a dense, crushing slab of death doom with huge rhythms, cavernous drums, haunting leads and bellicose vocals, provide a massive, impenetrable sound. It’s a fierce and eerie track, which becomes more intense as it progresses, with plenty of subtle hooks and lighter keyboard flourishes peppered throughout, making for a sound that is equal parts monolithic and mesmerising, starting the record on a really high note. The Absence of Grief takes a much slower approach, with softer, much nonetheless effective, guitar tones giving this a more beguiling, sharper sound, which cuts through the meaty undercurrent of the bass, rhythm guitars and drums, resulting in a surprisingly grandiose and immersive piece of music. The vocals, likewise, take on a more animated and varied style, shifting between booming gutturals and far more caustic howls, punctuating this juggernaut of a track with a primal, grating roar.

Misery Form completely strips back CONVOCATION‘s sound, with minimalist percussion, thunderous rhythmic hooks and some arid, feral vocals contrasting perfectly with the polished, disjointed leads guitars, which gives this song an ethereal, epic quality that elevates it above the tracks that preceded it very quickly. It’s got an excellent, tar thick groove that lends a weightier edge to the sound, which, when airy, hypnotic female vocals are introduced into the mix, adds another stark counterpoint between the darker and catchier sides of the bands sound, making this the most eclectic and engrossing track on the whole record.

Portal Closed closes out the album with a crisp, magnificent and punchier offering, by this albums standards, with a much tighter, slicker sound, due in no small part to the brilliant, melody driven guitars and gargantuan, gothic keyboards, which make this song a lot more memorable and bombastic than the other three. It’s got a fantastic, angelic sound, with plenty a much more restrained feel that allows the keyboards to provide an angelic ambience to the music, and giving this album a powerful, climactic exclamation point that it’s very hard not to love.

Although the core tenets of the music are still present, there’s a few marked changes between this album and Scars Across. Obviously, there’s a much more adventurous sound, with more imaginative leads and a much more energetic sound overall, with every aspect of this album, from the more varied vocal style to the tighter drum sound, coupled with a great production that strikes a good balance between the more polished and murkier qualities in the music, contributing to an excellent, engrossing album. This is a great step in the right direction for CONVOCATION, improving on a formula that was already impressive to begin with, and with any luck their next album will be on par with this one.

Rating: 8/10

Ashes Coalesce is set for release on July 3rd via Everlasting Spew Records.

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