As is often the case with Sophomore albums, when Ingested first released The Surreption, it didn’t receive the praise or attention their debut album Surpassing The Boundaries Of Human Suffering did. So it comes as no surprise that after a successful remastering of their first releases, they thought it wise to have a second attempt at releasing The Surreption. And In my opinion, it was the right move.
Not just a remaster, this is a full re-recording of all the material, with their current equipment and their fantastic engineer Nico at Kimera Recordings overseeing all the production. Even the artwork has been updated to include additional detail not present on the first release. This sums up how I feel about the album - clearer, more detail. You’d expect this considering a decade has passed since the original, but the magnitude of how far they’ve come has to be heard to be believed. The riffs are absolutely crushing, with ferocious attack from both Sam and Sean on guitars, underpinned by Lyn’s monstrous drumming. Jay’s vocals are sublime too, showcasing his immense range from seismic gutturals to stratospheric highs.
Ingested pulled no punches when these songs were written - written as a blend of death metal, deathcore, and slam, they leave your face fatigued from the knowing stinkface you’re forced to pull for the full 44 minutes. High tempo, high intensity, high excitement, as we look back at their back catalogue it’s no wonder songs like Kingmaker frequently highlight in their live sets. It’s this consistent commitment to releasing higher and higher quality material that makes Ingested stand out as true nobility in the UK Death Metal scene, and there’s no sign of them stopping any time soon. Pick this record up, and bang your head until it comes off. 9/10
Not just a remaster, this is a full re-recording of all the material, with their current equipment and their fantastic engineer Nico at Kimera Recordings overseeing all the production. Even the artwork has been updated to include additional detail not present on the first release. This sums up how I feel about the album - clearer, more detail. You’d expect this considering a decade has passed since the original, but the magnitude of how far they’ve come has to be heard to be believed. The riffs are absolutely crushing, with ferocious attack from both Sam and Sean on guitars, underpinned by Lyn’s monstrous drumming. Jay’s vocals are sublime too, showcasing his immense range from seismic gutturals to stratospheric highs.
Ingested pulled no punches when these songs were written - written as a blend of death metal, deathcore, and slam, they leave your face fatigued from the knowing stinkface you’re forced to pull for the full 44 minutes. High tempo, high intensity, high excitement, as we look back at their back catalogue it’s no wonder songs like Kingmaker frequently highlight in their live sets. It’s this consistent commitment to releasing higher and higher quality material that makes Ingested stand out as true nobility in the UK Death Metal scene, and there’s no sign of them stopping any time soon. Pick this record up, and bang your head until it comes off. 9/10
Fimir – Tomb Of God (Argonauta Records) [Simon Black]
Once upon a time, there was a Finnish Doom Metal band called Church Of Void. After a few years of producing albums and EP’s the band splintered, with drummer Byron heading in one direction and the remainder remoulding, forming Firmir and filling out the vacant slots. They identify themselves in the Doom camp, but I would say that there’s an equal portion of Stoner in their as well, with a healthy dollop of the Psychedelic/Cosmic on top for good measure - creating music that builds mood over time, but does so with a heavy, sonorous and monotonously building beats. This band are not about brevity, with the shortest of the six tracks on this debut racking in at five and a half minutes, and three clocking in at seven, eight and nine minutes respectively. It’s a heady combination of the classic occult Doom sound with the more ambient but achieves this without sounding boring or repetitious.
Lengthy opener One Eyed Beast is well named given the nearly ten minutes it takes to deliver and yet strangely is the weakest of the tracks on here, as although it has plenty of mood it doesn’t quite feel like it achieves its direction. You probably need to come back to this one after the rest have had a chance to reel you in, as the remainder are the complete opposite in terms of ability to engage. The positively punchy by comparison Horde Of Crows benefits from a much stronger structure and a bit of vocal style variety from both Magus Corvus (vocals & guitar) and H.Warlock (Vocals and Bass). Adding the more extreme vocal sounds mixing with the cleaner, haunting doomier ones gives this balance, edge and a way more epic feel. It’s a stark comparison to the opener and that pace and energy continue from hereon in.
By the time we get through White Wolf, I’m nodding away quite happily, thank you very much, and the lengths of the arrangements are being used to positive effect – holding your attention despite their length. Obsidian Giant is way slower, but no less hypnotic, and gives whichever of the two is on vocal duties a chance to show a softer side, but nestled in the heaviest of musical backdrops. It’s a beast in more ways than one and the song I came back to the most.
The quality and consistency remain from here, which make wonder that perhaps if that overly lengthy opener had either found itself a different spot on the album or lost a minute or so from the arrangement, it would have worked out the better for the record, making it more consistent and hypnotically effective, but nonetheless this is a project with legs, atmosphere and energy. 7/10
Moon Reaper - Descent (Self Released) [Paul Scoble]
Moon Reaper are a Bristolian 4 piece who have been together since 2018. The band is made up of Morgan Cradick on Vocals and Guitar, Aidan Rutter on Bass, Zack Esposito on Drums and Noah Burns on Guitar, in the time Moon Reaper have been a band they have released 2 singles; Torture Chamber in 2019 and Spiralism a year later. Descent is the bands first EP. Nearly all the material on Descent is slow and heavy. The sound has a Blackened feel to it in the dissonance that is all over this EP, and the occasional use of Tremolo Picked riffs, there is also a bit of a Hardcore feel to some of this as well, so there is a definite Sludge sense to the material. The EP opens with Time Warper which, after a soft, clean intro, is huge and very heavy with nasty, harsh vocals, the track is very rhythmic and driving and is a great way to start the nastiness. Former single Spiralism feels a little more expansive than the previous song, it has a very pleasing Tremolo Picked riff layered in with all the slow and heavy riffs.
The quality and consistency remain from here, which make wonder that perhaps if that overly lengthy opener had either found itself a different spot on the album or lost a minute or so from the arrangement, it would have worked out the better for the record, making it more consistent and hypnotically effective, but nonetheless this is a project with legs, atmosphere and energy. 7/10
Moon Reaper - Descent (Self Released) [Paul Scoble]
Moon Reaper are a Bristolian 4 piece who have been together since 2018. The band is made up of Morgan Cradick on Vocals and Guitar, Aidan Rutter on Bass, Zack Esposito on Drums and Noah Burns on Guitar, in the time Moon Reaper have been a band they have released 2 singles; Torture Chamber in 2019 and Spiralism a year later. Descent is the bands first EP. Nearly all the material on Descent is slow and heavy. The sound has a Blackened feel to it in the dissonance that is all over this EP, and the occasional use of Tremolo Picked riffs, there is also a bit of a Hardcore feel to some of this as well, so there is a definite Sludge sense to the material. The EP opens with Time Warper which, after a soft, clean intro, is huge and very heavy with nasty, harsh vocals, the track is very rhythmic and driving and is a great way to start the nastiness. Former single Spiralism feels a little more expansive than the previous song, it has a very pleasing Tremolo Picked riff layered in with all the slow and heavy riffs.
The song has some very tuneful clean vocals, and has some very heavy material in the second half of the song. Clockwork has a bit more pace to it than most of the other material, it’s closer to Mid-paced than slow, it also has more of a rock vibe to it. The track has some softer sections, which help to temper the more uptempo rock. Godeater starts slow, but gets faster really quickly, almost to Blast Beat territory, before slowing down for a soft and clean ending. Final track Necromancy has a big, relaxed tempo, it’s softer and much more expansive. The song segues between heavy and slow with harsh vocals, and softer sections with clean vocals. Descent is a great little EP. It features five, very good songs and feels like it was made by a band more mature than one on its first EP. The material is crushingly heavy, with savage vocals and a great sense of huge harshness and dissonance. If this is the bands first Ep, I can’t wait to hear their first full album. 7/10
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