Furnace

Ancst are a band from Berlin with a varied discography but aside from their drone and dark ambient releases they are still mainly are a black/crust band. People familiar with the German hardcore scene might notice that the people involved with this band or collective as they call themselves also play in various hardcore bands including the excellent Afterlife Kids and Henry Fonda.

The fact that this band consists of ageing hardcore kids shows up through out the EP. A lot of the riffs take heavily from crust punk, at other moments I can pick up the influence German skramz has had on this band. Certainly they sound a lot more hardcore than the average black/crust band. Most bands in this style tend to focus more on the black metal elements which are even often of the more atmospheric sort. On “Furnace” however we have songs that go for the throat and for not a single moment make you think this might be some overly self indulgent post-black metal. The ferocity of the riffs coupled with the very direct song-writing gives this EP a very urgent feel, another reason why this EP has a very hardcore feel. The sheer energy of this EP is partly caused by the drum programming. It is almost like whoever programmed the patterns thought the rest of the band band played too slowly and needed a solid kick against their behinds. Sadly the mechanical nature of the drum sound eventually does wear a bit tiresome and is also the only real flaw on this EP. However I can remember reading that they are looking for a real drummer and maybe this means the next release will no longer have this issue.

Certainly despite its one very obvious flaw this EP shows that Ancst are one of the premier black/crust bands around right now. Their distinctive German sound coupled with the barrage of riffs sets them apart in the wider scene. I can say that live they are quite potent too, at least when the singer does not feel to rant about the injustices in the world for about as long as the songs themselves last. However it is clear that without the frustration the band members have this EP would never sound as good as it actually does.