Ash of Ashes – Down The White Waters

[schema type=”review” name=”Ash of Ashes – Down The White Waters” description=”Label: Kalthallen Tonträger” author=”Başak Günel” pubdate=”2018-09-21″ ]

Ash of Ashes is the project born from the ashes (ha!) of HEL. Formed by the mainman Skaldir, the band describes their style as epic skaldic metal and “Down The White Waters” is the debut album released recently. This release is heavily inspired by the saga of Wayland the Smith; there are even four songs with the concept “The Lay of Wayland”. As a fan of this style, I was curious to hear whether this album was just like any other one out there or whether it was a bit of a fresh air with a rather different concept.

I don’t know how you like your folk/pagan metal but this one is definitely interesting for the ones who like their style diverse, epic and melodic. These aspects are reflected pretty well especially in the clean vocals which feels highly connected to nature and of course heavily inspired by the saga but also different emotions; some songs are uplifting while others are rather darker or even more melancholic. While folk/epic elements form the essence, some elements from black, power and heavy metal are also there, which are nice surprises in “Down The White Waters”. Overall, there is also a poetic atmosphere to it when we think about the concepts that the band focused on. I also gotta add that it’s well-produced; in releases like this where both clean and harsher vocals as well as different instruments are featured, a good production is essential and Ash of Ashes prove that they have a passion that is reflected quite well musically and technically.

Soo is it one of ‘those’ ordinary pagan/folk metal records? No. Surely, it doesn’t bring anything new to the scene but it is definitely a fresh air and a release that I enjoyed. Pretty sure this will be on my rotation every now and then. Definitely recommended to those who like folk/pagan/epic metal and those interested in mythological concepts!

P.S. This release reminded me of Myrkgrav’s “Takk og farvel; tida er blitt ei annen” in some songs. Turns out that Skaldir mastered all of the Mrykgrav releases so now the mystery is solved for me. A nice coincidence indeed!

Album Line-up:
Skaldir- vocals, guitars, keyboards, bass
Morten – lyrics, vocals
Guests:
Dennis Strillinger – drums
Mathias Gyllengahm – nyckelharpa (on “Ash To Ash” & “Springar”)
Runahild – hardingfele (on “Seven Winters Long”)

Tracklist: 01. Down the White Waters 02. Flames on the Horizon 03. Ash to Ash 04. Sea of Stone 05. Springar 06. Seven Winters Long (The Lay of Wayland) 07. In Chains (The Lay of Wayland) 08. The Queen’s Lament (The Lay of Wayland) 09. Chambers of Stone (The Lay of Wayland) 10. Outro

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