Anciients
Voice of the Void
(Season of Mist)
Anciients burst onto the scene in 2013 with their excellent debut Heart of Oak, which showed they were a new voice in progressive metal. The Vancouver-based group borrows from sludge, stoner rock, and progressive death metal, coming across as a musical offspring of a drugged-out threesome among older Mastodon, Opeth, and The Ocean, although their sonic baby does their own thing. With large (and welcome) doses of Chris Cornell-style vocals and a definite fuzz rock bend, their sound embraces rock ‘n roll’s past, which adds some extra sweet seasoning to Anciient’s style. It all comes together to make something big, melodic, and fun.
Three years later, Anciients is back more focused and decidedly darker. Voice of the Void leans harder on Anciients’ doom and death influence with some malevolent black metal gloom. Don’t fret; the band is still full of its patented proggy metal guitar riffs and leads, and the songs are even more massive than before. It feels less stoner-centric, like the band morphed from a peach to a nectarine (less fuzz, get it?). The result is a band packing a mighty punch, with some of the best adrenaline-fueled progressive metal around.
Unfortunately, Voice of the Void falters by not leaving some of this otherwise excellent record on the cutting room floor. These nine tracks total 66-plus minutes, and there are definitely some moments that drag everything down a notch. Humorously, the three shortest songs on the record are also its weakest. “Descending” is a neat but unnecessary Western-style interlude, while “Pentacle” and “Serpents”, falter for the opposite reasons. The former is too straight-forward, stripping the tune of the impact of its mammoth (though slightly underwhelming) riffs, while the latter takes too long to get to the meat of the song, wasting precious time before its wonderful conclusion.
That’s not to say the other six songs don’t have moments that could be clipped for good measure, but Anciients are definitely better suited for the long-form songwriting. “Following the Voice” and “Ibex Eye” are the band’s best songs to date, with powerful leads and punchy percussion keeping things interesting throughout these long songs. Really, aside from some minor meandering issues (which are pretty common in the prog world), there’s little else to complain about. Anciients have returned stronger than ever, with some of their best songs to date. It’s a darker, heavier affair, but it’s no less hooky.
Purchase Voice of the Void here.
