Suffering Hour - In Passing Ascension

Probably one of the most solid blackened death metal debut albums to come out in my recent memory, In Passing Ascension channels black metal tendencies akin to the likes of Behemoth and even Leviathan in a more speedy, and lo-fi, modern death metal stew similar to that of Abysmal Dawn. Abysmal Dawn just happens to be the first comparative contemporary as far as purveyors of efficient modern death metal go, but on this debut, Suffering Hour actually embody the abysmal side of death metal a bit more. With long sections of dissonant guitar chords, many of which are quickly arpegiated, the album takes on the depressive, downtrodden atmosphere of that side of American black metal while retaining the extra punch of death metal, much in the way that Leviathan’s Scar Sighted did in 2015 (with so many moments on this album, in fact, bringing me right back to that album).
“The Abrasive Black Dust” probably best showcases the blackest depths of the album, sounding much like a slow free fall into a more vastly empty and internally torturous form of hell, while “Through Vessels of Arcane Power” and “For the Putridity of Man“ unleash the instruments at full speed to repeatedly hammer down their nihilistic assault. The vocals across the album, while nothing to write home about, are probably at their most helpful to the rest of the music (and a great asset to the album) at their most deathly and most demonically growled. Primitive Man’s newest album comes to mind when thinking of the type of death growls that this album embodies at its best.
If the album does suffer from one thing though, it’s definitely the eventual drone-inducing side effects of the atmospheric black metal infused in the entire record. It kind of should be expected to at least some degree, since the original genre does draw quite a bit of its appeal from the drawn out ambiance it creates, which contrasts sharply with restless modern death metal. Wrest has mastered meshing the two, however, and if Suffering Hour take as much inspiration from him as I think they do then I have high hopes for their future refining of this sound they seem confident and comfortable in.

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