The Blinding Light "The Ascension Attempt" CD
[Deathwish]
I have to begin by stating my confusion over the fact that the first riff on this album is about as close to the main riff from Pantera's "By Demons Be Driven" as one could come without actually covering the song - and I'm dead serious about that. But anyway, not unlike their EP this is a promising slab of uncompromising heaviness, though I have to say that there's still room for improvement across the board, and my anticipations for this record were a bit higher than what they actually deliver. There are all sorts of riffs going on from rhythmic quirks with flashy drum fills to slow and sludgy doom passages, eerie dissonant chord progressions, hints of chaos, plenty of grinding speeds and metallic tinges (some even leaning towards death metal), and of course throat shredding vocals. "I Can't Slow Down" has some brief spoken passages, but don't expect much of that. Overall I like the vibe of this stuff a lot, but I feel like it gets a little too frantic for its own good, which can be problematic in that a lot of the strongest riffs don't stick around for too long, and they cram so many changes into three to six minutes that sometimes the flow or impact can suffer. Though, possibly ironically, "Hydrant" is the longest track at nearly seven minutes, and also the most consistent as far as tempo and style - so it also becomes one of the truly effective and destructive compositions herein. I also find the recording to be a little bit of a weakness on certain levels, though. The EP didn't sound perfect either, and I can live with it, but the drums still need a little bit more consistent density and warmth (the drum performance is so fucking awesome, though), the bass could use some definition, and the mix still has some separation in it that can add clarity but still seems a little strange at times. I also think the separation brings out some minor falters in some of the guitar playing as far as tightness and tuning, as once in awhile the guitars sound a little bit out of tune with one another, or certain obvious dual guitar parts won't be as closely knit as they probably should be. I love the gritty bite of the guitar tone, but the playing needs to be as tight as possible at all times I think. The clean guitar tone really sucks, though. There's no character to the sound so the clean passages come off as not only oddly out of tune, but also fairly bland and uninteresting by comparison. The cover art looks excellent on this, using imagery fitting of the album title with lots of vibrant colors and textures. One high contrast band photo appears inside with the lyrics, which I'm surprised to say are a little bland. I don't know, I just would've expected more somehow. They're pretty succinct and open, but something about the way they're presented seems off against the musical backdrop. There are some stronger moments, at least. "Man, it's a pain running the gauntlet again and again, But I'm used to it, and I've got stupidity to put me up to it, And it makes me want to scream when I feel those bullets rip through me..." Overall this is still a good record from a very good band, but I know they could do so much more. There are actually a couple of weak tracks herein (namely "Earth Razor"), but nothing that greatly holds back the entire record. I've still got high hopes for this band, they're close to the mark... they're not quite running at full speed, but almost. (7/10)
Running time - 42:28, Tracks: 9
[Notable tracks: Routine Seizure, Hydrant, Light]
Deathwish Inc. - http://www.deathwishinc.com

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