Genre : Doomcore, thall, Blackened deathcore
Released : August 4th, 2023
Label : Unique Leader Records
FFO : Vildhjarta, Black Tongue, No Oath
I honestly did not expect to hear from Humanity's Last Breath so "soon" after the release of their previous album, the excellent "Välde" in 2021, which ranked amongst my favourites of that year.
Then again, I guess this is one of the advantages of having a band project with multiple musicians involved that is mainly the brainchild of one person, allowing for less practical restrictions and more creative freedom.
Except, in this case (and perhaps for the first time ever in the project's history) "Ashen" 's creative process was a much more collaborative effort than previously, where usually, producer and multi-instrumentalist Buster Odeholm would pretty much be solely in charge of songwriting and production on past material.
After working together so much with Calle Thomer on Vildhjarta material as well as collaborating on other band's' material (Reflections, Grayscale Season, Catsclaw), Calle became much more involved in "Ashen" 's overall songwriting process.
Buster also reached out to Timothé Baqué (No Oath) and gave him the creative freedom to bring his own style of arrangements and production to the album, which ended up playing a key part in making "Ashen" stand out from HLB' s previous albums production-wise and in terms of sound design.
For those not yet acquainted, No Oath has drawn attention in recent years within the thall scene due to his unique, hyper-compressed and distorted style of production, blurring the lines between where digital and organic guitars and electronic soundscapes begin and end.
Indeed, where "Välde" had seemed to put an emphasis on developing the apocalyptical cinematic elements of HLB's sound, with a strong highlight on the post-black metal influences as well as pushing the production quality levels to a new standard of "clean, clear but hyper-punchy, bassy and percusssively heavy" ; "Ashen" instead devotes itself entirely to making the band sound as loud, heavy, insanely distorted and catastrophic, to the point where the listener begins to ask themselves whether their sound system or audio device is even gonna be able to handle whatever the fuck is going on.
Lead single "Labyrinthian" was the perfect choice of introduction to this new step in Humanity's Last Breath's search for utter sonic obliteration, since it presented most of the staple HLB elements such as pitch-shifting gymnastics over odd-tempo "elastic" rythms, packed with atmosphere and post-production editing tricks like the relentless assault of warping reversed hits of open lower strings punctuated by tremoloed harmonics, and of course, Filip Danielsson's unmistakable animalistic guttural growls.
But it also presented some of the newer electronic elements of sound design and chiefly, this hyper-distorted production style that departs from the pristine punchy heaviness we had grown to know, and perfectly showcases it in the track's main breakdown, which feels like a limitless descent into down-pitched guitar bends which will have you thinking : "Surely it can't go any lower than that, right?". Yes. Yes, it can.
In case you had missed the pre-release warning shot, album opener "Blood Spilled" serves a similar purpose ; introducing listeners to the band's pursuit of the most malevolent and chaotic version of themselves and plunging them into a vortex of distortion that gives the impression of increasingly ripping apart the very fabric of sound until it borders on becoming unintelligible. Fans and press alike have often made black hole analogies to describe HLB's sound but it has never been truer than now.
Some of the band's explorations of more melodic and cinematic passages have been carried on to "Ashen", most notably on tracks like "Linger" with its soaring half sung, half yelled dramatic chorus or "Instill" and its strikingly memorable Bulgarian choir performed by guest vocalist Heli Andrea.
Double track album closer "Burden"/"Bearer" condenses HLB's penchant for end-of-times cinematic gravitas in a surprisingly emotional send-off to a relentlessly scorching and sonically punishing album from start to finish.
From its inception, Humanity's Last Breath has always been apocalyptic, both musically and thematically, however, "Ashen" truly marks a zenith in the band's pursuit of the most devastating doomsday soundtrack possibly obtainable in their career so far.
While it may not be a reinvention of their formula, "Ashen" definitely marks an evolution in the band's direction and artistical vision, bringing along sub-genres of heavy music that are at a real risk of becoming overly stale (looking at you deathcore) into uncharted territories in the process, and solidifying Buster Odeholm as one of the most influential and forward-thinking producers in modern metal currently.
Will they pursue and develop this approach in the future or was this a one-off case of them trying out new ways to explore different soundscapes? Who knows.
But with such a consistent group of musicians also willing to think outside of heavy music's conventions, the apocalypse is their playground and the possibilities seem limitless.
thall
(Photography by Jesper Blom)