2024 is winding to a close, but not without some last second album reviews! Towards the start of the year, we were treated to the brilliant third album from Canadian metal mavericks Traveler, Prequel to Madness, which you’ll definitely be reading about again in our upcoming year end list (Who will be #1?). Fast forward to the year’s tail end and we’re being treated to the vocal talents of one Mr. Jean-Pierre Abboud yet again, this time fronting the radically different, yet equally noteworthy Detroit based outfit, Among These Ashes. Despite having just formed a few years ago, ATA have remained prolific, releasing a string of singles and now two studio albums, the second of which we are reviewing today, Embers of Elysium.
Those who prefer the straightforward Priest/Maiden tinged romanticism of Traveler may not immediately take to ATA, and for good reason. Lying somewhere at the crossroads of prog, power, thrash, and groove, ATA come off as a lost, turn of the century, private press relic band, the type who exists on Goodwill shelves and the annals of the Metal Archives. It’s an ultra-specific niche, to say the least. The easiest comparison that can be drawn is to Nevermore, but even still, a blind Nevermore worship act these guys are not.
The front half of Embers is loaded with these aforementioned Nevermore-esque, groove metal tracks. Cuts like “Serpents Among Rats”, “Faceless War Machines”, and “Of One Blood” find a knuckle-dragging riff, a head-bobbing groove, and stick with it. If it were any other band, I’d likely be turned off, but these groove-oriented cuts are emboldened by Abboud’s operatic vocals, ripping twin guitar leads, apocalyptic lyricism, and progressive maneuvers. For a prog-groove hybrid (please don’t have an aneurysm), ATA is not half bad. However, as a power-thrash vehicle, they’re even better.
The second half of Embers is where things really pick up speed, figuratively and literally. Blistering power-thrash ragers like “Stronger Than Death”, “The Storm Within”, “The Enemy in I”, and “The Hybrid Bloodline” deal in old school neck-snapping madness akin to Flotsam and Jetsam and Warrel Dane’s pre-Nevermore outfit, Sanctuary. There are progressive nuances and groovy breakdowns scattered amongst these songs as well, but at the forefront is their thrashing aggression and valorous USPM aura. Embers continues this all gas, no brakes ethos until its climax, the coup de grace being the epic “The Obsidian Reign”.
Despite the musical talents of each individual member, and the highs on Embers being REALLY high, there is room for improvement. At 12 songs and an hour plus runtime, Embers does border on musical fatigue. Personally, I’d axe the groovier joints and the 7 minute instrumental “Through Eternal Voids”, which isn’t bad for a prog metal cut, but doesn’t add anything to the release either. Furthermore, the production at times comes off as a bit dodgy, with the instruments bleeding into each other and Abboud’s voice occasionally sounding buried altogether. With some self-editing, a sharper sonic attack, and some doubling down on the power-thrash formula, there’s no reason ATA’s third album can’t be the charm. After all, Embers comes oh so close in its own right.
6 out of 10
Label: Alone Records
Genre: Power/Thrash Metal
For fans of: Nevermore, Sanctuary, Flotsam and Jetsam
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