EP REVIEW: Satan’s Legacy Come Flesh – Ancient Torment
Making an impact with your very first release is something that is very hard to do for any band, and there’s only a scant few examples of bands who have successfully pulled it off. Clearly, Rhode Island’s ANCIENT TORMENT know this, which is why it has taken nearly three years since the bands formation in 2016 to the present before we’ve heard any music from them. Luckily, the result of those three years of crafting and writing, Satan’s Legacy Come Flesh, is well worth the wait, being a dark and raw slab of vicious black metal that means that the band are able to be excellent right out of the gate.
Satan’s Legacy Come Flesh opens with its titular track – a driven, visceral slab of dark and sepulchral black metal, with a production that is just dense and raw enough to satisfy purists, but still clear and polished enough to enable the bellicose vocals, intricate drumming and blistering, brazen riffs to be fully heard and appreciated. Tinged with vast, epic motifs, the title track is a song that manages to be aggressive and grandiose in equal parts, making it a very good opener, setting a lofty bar straight away for the rest of the record to surpass. Meanwhile, Seven Black Keys (Of Damnation) makes for a far more abrasive and grating affair, with chaotic, cacophonous riffs and thundering drum lines creating a solid backdrop that is almost unmatched in its intensity on this record. The vocals carve a razor sharp and acidic path through the mix, adding a hellish edge to an already ferocious sound and ensuring that this song leaves its mark on the record. The guitars, in amongst their far more caustic and jarring moments, are tinged with dissonant melodies which make the music as interesting and memorable as the unerring viciousness does, cementing this song as one of the stand out tracks very early on.
Eve In Estrus is a relatively short, sharp shock of furious black metal hooks, dancing drum patterns and thick, crushing rhythm guitars that, in spite of this song being the shortest on the album, make sure that it still leaves a notable impact on the record. Like the first two songs, it is unflinchingly speed driven and powerful, drenched in venom and full to bursting with great guitar lines and rabid, feral vocals. It’s a great song that sets the listener up for the fourth and final song incredibly well.
The last and by far longest song on the EP, A Treasure Squandered, doesn’t fail to close this album on an incredibly high note, and manages to be brilliant and engrossing from start to finish in spite of its extended running time. The music is no less subdued or reserved than any of the other three songs, but injects plenty of tight, hair raising guitar melodies into the mix to keep the song interesting, and giving this song a very different feel than the others, being, at points, evocative of bands like BEHEXEN, maintaining a raw production whilst having plenty of fantastic musicianship to offer. The vocals are noticeably more frenzied and chaotic at points, which acts as a great counterpoint to the much slicker feel of the music. It’s a great closing track, and leaves the listener eager to hear more.
The meticulous work and attention to detail ANCIENT TORMENT have shown in the creation of Satan’s Legacy Comes Flesh has certainly paid off, and their debut EP does a great job of nailing the band’s sound and style from the very first moment. It has just the right balance between a dirty sound and catchy, memorable compositions to make it stand out significantly from many of their underground contemporaries. ANCIENT TORMENT are clearly well versed in the old school black metal sound, but at no point does this strike the listener as contrived or stray into the realms of cheap parody. Hopefully it won’t be another three year wait before the band release a follow up, as this is a stellar performance that makes for a great base on which to build plenty of excellent music in the future.
Rating: 9/10
Satan’s Legacy Come Flesh is set for release May 10th via Eternal Death.
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