In Death

Brooklyn's Ancestor's raise one hell of a cacophony with In Death. More than anything, In Death is a melting put for any sort of vicious riff that can ostensibly fly under the black metal umbrella. Abrasiveness and intensity is the name of the game, and Ancestors sure knows how to craft a ripping riff or two. The cover is an apt choice, because <in Death incinerates everything in its path.

This EP is short and brutal, not unlike life. It almost feels like black metal's take on power violence. It can get very punky at times, with hardcore and even crust not uncommon in their mix of abrasive swirling noise. They throw in a lot of different riffs, but they all move towards the same violent ends. This also reminds me of a the way Vermin Womb mixed all that is fast and abrasive under one rotting banner, just with less of a focus on the death metal side of things. One really cool thing that Ancestors do is take a bouncy riff and suck all the fun out of it and pump it full of menace. This kind of reminds me of Slavehouse's violent and uncompromising take on punky black metal.

Their Bandcamp page speaks of "glorify[ing] the hallucinatory nature of despair". While I'm not going to pretend I fully understand what the whole blurb is on about, this line really shines a light on their MO. This just doesn't feel like violence just for the sake of violence. It almost comes off like a bad trip on psychedelics, with the fabric of reality violently tearing apart piece by piece. The whole bit about despair in relations to hallucinatory experience actually makes sense in a weird way - hallucinogens can break down your ego and allow yourself to be honest with yourself about your failings in life, which can be a disorienting and painful experience but ultimately leads to more clarity.

Before I go on more of a tangent on their Bandcamp blurb (how did my life end up like this?), I'll just say that In Death fucking rips and if you like savage riff-centric black metal with heaping doses of punk give, Ancestors a listen immediately.