ALBUM REVIEW: Ash Blind – Devenial Verdict
Transcending Obscurity Records have been relentlessly dependable this year. Offering up a veritable feast of all things dark and deathy, from the bludgeoning grind of MORGUE SUPPLIER to the all-encompassing sludge of MORBID EVILS, not a month has gone by without the label putting out at least one record to scratch some of our more persistently sadistic itches. Now, it’s the turn of Finnish death dealers DEVENIAL VERDICT, and as they step up to the plate with a long overdue debut full-length, they ensure that the Transcending Obscurity name remains a hallmark of extreme quality in 2022.
Titled Ash Blind, and bearing on its cover the typically stunning artwork of the dearly-departed Mariusz Lewandowski, this album is a proper crusher. Essentially a dissonant death metal record, if that tag has you running for the hills for fear of endless atonal obtusity then might we suggest that you hang on for a sec. Obviously this won’t be for everyone, but it also isn’t as hard work as a lot of disso-death. There’s something deeply atmospheric and expansive about what DEVENIAL VERDICT do here. It even leans towards the generally more dynamic fare of post-metal at points, especially when a track like Mourning Star arrives just over halfway through the record to break up the band’s longer and more suffocating cuts with a moody proggy instrumental.
That piece doesn’t come before we’ve undergone a significant punishing though. Opener Hope houses most of the record’s defining elements: relentless blast beats, chuggy riffing, more atmospheric lead guitar parts, some killer soloing, and bleak, hateful vocals from the band’s bellower-in-chief Riku Saressalo. These are Ash Blind’s primary tools, and all are deeply effective, but it’s the band’s ability to carve a clear path through this carnage that really elevates this record. Yes, this album is overwhelmingly heavy, but it is grounded by moments that listeners can properly grab onto. Alongside the aforementioned Mourning Star for example, there’s the doomier heft of second track Pravum, or the GOJIRA-esque levels of groove found in the likes of Sun Hammer and The Contemptor. These moments are crucial, and they help lift DEVENIAL VERDICT’s heads above the dime-a-dozen apocalypse merchants that proliferate the scene nowadays.
Another big tick here is runtime. Wrapping things up just inside of 45 minutes, DEVENIAL VERDICT have judged this perfectly. No-one would need an hour of this – or indeed of any such extreme music while we’re at it – and in getting out when they do the band ensure that Ash Blind is an album that’s well worth revisiting rather than one listeners will be glad to see the back of. It would be wrong to say it’s a pleasure to be in their company, but the world the band create here is somehow deeply and darkly inviting. It holds to its course to the very end, with a final guitar solo from the album’s regular stand-out in Sebastian Frigren bringing a needed sense of climax to closer World Breaker.
Having formed in 2009, and not released anything at all since 2016’s Soulthirst EP, it’s clear DEVENIAL VERDICT are a band of impressive patience. All of that pays off here, as in Ash Blind they have created a work of considerable intelligence – a record that’s devastatingly heavy and often intricately layered, and yet never completely impenetrable. This one deserves some proper investment, and it will reward all who oblige accordingly. In a year of so many excellent Transcending Obscurity releases, Ash Blind could be our pick of the bunch.
Rating: 8/10
Ash Blind is set for release on October 28th via Transcending Obscurity Records.
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