Ascension "The Years of Fire" CD
Posted on Friday, October 20th, 2006 @ 8:57am » permalink
Perhaps lesser-known during the "holy terror" wave of the 90's, Ascension (from Cleveland, OH – probably the "holy terror" capital of the world simply due to Integrity's presence) was another band whose relationship to hardcore was fairly minimal from a musical standpoint, as their riffing was very directly influenced by straight up thrash metal – while still retaining a certain level of that undeniably effective 90's chug. And believe me, they more than earned their status under the "holy terror" banner through a raging assimilation of awesomely apocalyptic artwork, bitter lyrical themes, and even by quoting Anton LaVey on the back cover of this CD, "The Years of Fire", which was their 1996 debut. While both of the band's records were great, there's a certain level of unhinged energy and aggression on the debut that always stuck with me a little more, and the opening track, "Transit", is an outright fucking classic – easily the band's finest hour. Seven tracks, barely under 30 minutes… they just tear through and leave it at that. It's a quick listen, but one that still deserves a nod even today.
The putrid hate encompasses a million bleeding eyes, This is your way to kill the face of decay, With wounded lips, no voice will carry. And to the grave, corruption will take the blackened souls away. Wrapped up in the beautiful cedar boxes. The force had its way. Pollution of body and soul, the whole world is dying. Pollution of moral sin, there is no denying.
Ascension "Transit"
Ascension "Chestnut"
Ascension guitarist Matt DeVries and bassist Jason Hager later went on to Chimaira (though Hager only played on their first EP), while the latter is currently in a band called Years of Fire with former Ascension frontman Chris Wood (though I actually haven't really checked out their record yet). "The Years of Fire" is of course out of print, and Toybox Records doesn't even exist anymore, so… sadly the CD seems rather tough to come by these days. It does still seem to be available as a 10" from Interpunk, though, and you can find their sophomore full-length, "Abomination", on Amazon.com (incorrectly credited to the band name "This Ascension"), among other sources.
Good stuff.
The sampled music at the beginning of "Transit" is from an old Italian horror movie by Dario Argento. It's either from "Inferno" or "Tenebre" (I can't recall which off the top of my head). Either way, it was performed by the band Goblin, who did most of his soundtracks and are worth checking out on their own if you like creepy, classically influenced prog-rock.
hager was actually on the first chimaira full length too. shortly after it was released, devries replaced him.
you should check out years of fire, its like Ascension part II, their singer is still super nutty live.
Goddamn. I'm loving that breakdown in "Transit". That intro was pretty sweet too.
all Europeans can get this CD on http://www.punkwinkel.nl/ for 5€ only…
Upon further research, it appears to be from "Inferno", and that turns out to be one of the few Argento films that Goblin didn't do the music for. Keith Emerson (of ELP) did that one.
Yeah, as a onetime Clevo resident and HT music participant, I can say without hesitation that singer was a complete nutcase live and on-stage. He was so off the wall and out of the box for that era and city, the riffs were always great though.
Can I say how much I'm loving Holy Terror Friday so far?
It's making me go back and listen to this stuff again after not hearing it for a while.
Tons of memories in all these bands!
this band is great – I think I have the 10" packed away – I'll have to dig it out. These guys made me think of the band Upheaval – awesome vegan straight edge metal from Indy
Whoa TC, I hadn't thought about Upheaval since '99. Good call.
Fuck yes this is good shit, and I also agree that Upheaval were quality =)
Holy Terror Fridays are the best idea you've ever fucking had, man. I swear, this shit is awesome.
It's holy terror everyday
love this album, saw them once at Wetlands in NYC and their set was incredibly awesome
love this album, saw them once at Wetlands in NYC and their set was incredibly awesome
Another band that this brings to mind is Arkangel. Not sure if they were covered in this blog. But Dead Man Walking was some good stuff.
Adambomb-saw them at the same Wetlands show. They were great. I remember the singer pretending to bite someone in the audience.
Actually, I'm retarded. The intro music's from The Omen, not an Argento movie. Argento may have also used it, but it's *definitely* in The Omen.
damn their Year of Fire sounds like fucking As i Lay Dying or Canibal. I dont see any similaritis with Ascension.