One of UK’s powerhouses in extreme music today, Ingested have become a mainstay in extreme metal music. They have toured with heavy hitters in the modern era of extreme metal from Cannibal Corpse, Revocation, Carnifex and many more. The first time I was turned on to Ingested was around the time when 2015’s offering of The Architect of Extinction came out which in turn became a favorite of mine that following year alongside their future releases. Overtime, Ingested quickly became a recognizable name and a unstoppable force creating murderous and blisteringly crafted styles of death metal that have yet never ceased to disappoint. After successful amounts of non-stop touring and albums in between, Ingested signed with Metal Blade Records after their previous two releases. The Level Above Human and last album we’ve heard being 2020’s Where Only Gods May Tread were through Unique Leader Records.
Question is, how different both sonically, lyrically and progressively is Ashes Lie Still comparing to past Ingested albums? Well, safe to say that they’ve not only continued the same formula as the past couple of records but have marked a new chapter and evolution into their catalog. Now if you’re familiar with Ingested’s musical style, they do have elements of slam and deathcore in the mix but overtime they shifted themselves into a much more contemporary and cataclysmic style of death metal with groove aesthetics here and there. From their deathcore structures with brutal death metal instrumentals to the naturally matured and remarkable musicianship, the members of Ingested have wanted to create an album that I felt is a huge change from their previous work; simply because Ashes Lie Still made them feel more encouraged and vulnerable into really crafting the most ambitious and versatile pieces of music they’ve done to date.
Not only do they have special guests appearing on the record such as Aborted’s Sven de Caluwé doing guest vocals for the track From Hollow Words to Trivium’s very own Matt Heafy doing killer vocal deliveries for the track All I’ve Lost. It seems that the tempo variations from the guitar work and fluent bass tones and punching fills of the drums really solidified hearing how organic and natural sounding this album truly came to be. And far as the rest of tracks on the album such as Echoes Of Hate, Shadows In Time and With Broken Wings bring a relentless, aggressive and wonderful sonic signatures to the forefront. I will say Ashes Lie Still is not only a massive improvement over Where Only Gods May Tread but it wonderfully captures the nasty progression and delivers the finest achievement Ingested have done to date.
Overall score
8.5/10
Review by Jake Butler
