"Is this metal? I'm not using that as a measuring stick for the quality of this or anything, but I am reviewing this on the metal archives, after all. I bought Impending Ascension without hearing it beforehand or knowing anything about the band, so I consulted this lovely resource you're on right now just to make sure everything checked out. They had a profile on here, with some generally positive reviews (albeit only a few of them)-- I thought I was good to go. I was expecting something along the lines of Dream Theater or Fates Warning or something like that, but this isn't really what I expected, and I will admit that was a bit disappointing. Forgive me if I seem unable to break out of my metalhead bubble throughout this review because of that. I'll try my best not to let my perceptions of what I want this to be color my judgement and just take Impending Ascension for what it is.
With that being said, this is really flamboyant, pompous and somehow simultaneously energetic and subdued. In one word, it's kind of gay. Whether or not that's a bad thing is going to largely depend on your musical preferences (and level of homophobia), but it's the best adjective my primitive, extreme metal-oriented brain can come up with. The synths are big, glorious and right up in your face, easily dominating everything else--especially the guitars. That was probably the most jarring thing for me when first listening to Impending Ascension: there aren't any riffs! Sure, they'll throw in a couple of metallic guitar lines here and there, but because of the linear songwriting approach they don't usually last for long. See the opening of "Under the Wire"--it starts off fairly promising, but it takes all of thirty seconds before the synths start to creep in and fight the guitars for dominance. And then--what the fuck, it's over? It's the last track on the album and it's all of two minutes long! Basically, if you're expecting some twisting metal riffs on this you're gonna be shit out of luck, because they are literally only included as a footnote on Impending Ascension." ~ RapeTheDead, January 4th, 2017
References:
https://www.metal-archives.com/revie...ension/549046/
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