Ancestral War Hymns

Relative to its style, Ancestral War Hymns is an eclectic album. It seems to be founded on a basis constituting influences from Archgoat, Blasphemy, a lot of South American deathrash, and even some Nile, which can be extracted on a few particularly technical tracks; there might even be too much varied influence, something that this review will return to in the conclusion. The ranging sources from which this band, and the primary songwriter, J. Pahl, draw inspiration from make for a listen interesting in its perplexity, dark in its constructed atmosphere, and yet disjointed in its diversity.

Concerning the production, it is clear and professional; actually pretty standard for newer “war metal” acts. The sonic passage allows one to easily comprehend all components, although the percussion seems to be low, while the guitars come off as too loud at times; nevertheless, the sound is rich and deep, suiting the momentary delays and slower sections.

There are wonderful vocals in the introductory track: soft, screeching, satanic. The scratchy, rasping vocals that make up the rest of the album are quite generic; and yet, in point of fact, they highly suit this style: heated, sharp, yet lifeless in their monotony, precisely the requirements for battle. They clash easily with elaborate riffing, effecting a divergent vortex, spiraling away from the rhythm section before crashing back down with sudden moments of percussing gravity. On that note, the percussion is surprising and unpredictable: at times it is on key, providing steady foundations for higher movements, while elsewhere it is lacking in presence and continuity.

Finally, Gyibaaw is a band that really needs to seize one, just one, of these many directions that they are trying to follow simultaneously, and follow it to the end. Their future work can surely be affected by outside sources, making for a more or less varied listen, but there definitely needs to be direction, a clear and definable aim that they can easily follow. This record has potential, no doubt, but for that potential to be actualized, they need to sift through their collective output and determine firstly what is irrelevant, and then what can be utilized for later creation. Until then, Gyibaaw will continue to make enjoyable yet fragmented music like a great many of their contemporaries.