Ash Eater - Breathe The Smoke (Album Review)

Release Date: March 15th 2024. Record Label: Self Released. Formats: DD

Breathe The Smoke - Tracklisting

1.Earth Must Be Fed 02:12

2.The Siren's Call 03:20

3.Any Port In A Storm 05:00

4.Ritual 07:04

5.Grab The Strands//Take The Light\\Breathe The Smoke 08:06

6.The Warrior's Craze 07:48

Members

Kenny Coombs - Bass/Vocals

Andrew Pugh - Guitar

Alden Elias - Drums

Review

Breathe The Smoke is the second full length album from Doom/Thrash/Stoner Metallers Ash Eater and sees the band return four years after releasing their 2020 debut album. Ash Eater plays a mixture of Thrashed Out Doom/Stoner Metal with comparisons to High On Fire, Motorhead and early era Lord Dying. The band bring a seedy and dirge ridden style of Psychedelic Rock to the album with an aggressive fast-paced sound hat oozes 1980’s Classic Thrash Metal Attitude with a killer Speed Metal flow that works amazingly well with their modern day Psych Stoner Metal approach.

The sound can also be quite progressive on the flashier and trippy moments of the album with Ash Eater having a thrilling creative attitude that matches the more outlandish guitar solos played throughout the album. The production values are handled superbly well with Ash Eater opting for a contemporary and classic sound for Breathe The Smoke with perhaps the Doom Metal aspects offering the vocals to have a more distant vibe to the more “in your face” style of the instrumental passages.

Standout tracks include Any Port In A Storm, Ritual and Grab The Strands//Take The Light\\Breathe The Smoke where Ash Eater changes the sound to a slower change of pace but with DEMONIC persona coming from Kenny’s vocals fully taking over. However, the whole sound of the record starts to experiment with more of that 1980’s Hard Rock/Heavy Metal energy where the instrumental solos become flashier and perhaps a bit more OTT that you don’t initially expect. The whole tone is still full of vibrant promise with the sludgy guitars being quite melodic despite the abrasive nature of Ash Eater’s music.

Breathe The Smoke is a gloriously entertaining and bombastic record with a non-stop delivery of intense Heavy Metal guitar sounds that has an superb Doom/Stoner Metal energy that will keep the underground masses happy from start to finish.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Good Boy PR for the promo.

Links

Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram

Doom/Sludge Metallers Ash Eater Release New Single. Now Experience The Psychotic Doom Of RITUAL

Boardsliding their way out of the murky depths of the Portland heavy scene, Ash Eater arrive on their wheeled steeds with crushed beer in one hand and a flaming guitar promising nothing but sweet riffs in the other.

The trio of skaters, fronted by the bassist for fellow PDX acts LáGoon and Oopsy Dazey, deal in a ferocious mix of doom metal, thrash, and grubby psychedelia that congeals into a riotous sound as fit for a skate session as it is for a smoke-fogged mosh. .

Steel your mind and light your torches, Ash Eater's new single "Ritual" aims to drag you into the darkest dungeons of doom and psychedelia. Slowing the pace from their thrashier tendencies, the crew lay down a Sabbathian crawl of rolling riffs and nod, guitar squealing and bass throbbing under Kenny Coombs' crazed vocal delivery.

Madness lurks just around the corner, however, as the plot gets turned on its head and the band careens into a manic downward spiral of frenzied noise. An epic guitar solo swirls and contorts over the thundering gallop of drums and bass, a firey soundtrack to the depths of some drug-fueled psychosis. By the end the listener can rest uneasy knowing they've been complicit in a sonic ceremony of the illest intent.

The band state about RITUAL:

"A sonic journey of a slow descent into madness. As the terror of encroaching darkness becomes too much to withstand and pure chaos takes hold what is left of one fully given over to evil?

Using shifts in tempo to emulate a frantic mind torn between their actions and the results unfolding before them, ultimately culminating in a frantic and hectic sprint through insanity. Ritual attempts to give listeners the same uneasy feeling they might get after a handful of mushrooms around a campfire when the shadows seem to creep in a little too close."

Links

Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram

Thanks to Good Boy PR for all of the details.

Ash Eater - The Siren's Call (Single Review)

Release Date: 20th January 2024. Record Label: Self Released. Formats: DD

The SIren's Call - Tracklisting

The Siren's Call

Review

Thrash/Doom Metallers Ash Eater released their new song The Siren's Call recently from their upcoming second full length album due out for release in March 2023. The track is a throwback to classic Thrash Metal with modern day Psychedelic Doom overtones which gives the song a more spicy edge. The harsh vocals are boisterous and lively with Ash Eater soon playing fast-paced PROTO-METAL grooves which allows the band to play epic screeching guitars along the way.

Production is solid throughout with the song having a fine balance between CLASSIC HEAVY METAL and MODERN DAY PROGRESSIVE sounds. 

It would have been cool if the song was on a bit longer as soon as things were getting very interesting the song just ends. However, on this track alone, Ash Eater's upcoming new album is one to definitely lookout for.

Words by Steve Howe

Links

Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram