3rd June 2022

Review: “The Fabricated Monolith“ by Amongst the Ashes

The roots of Amongst the Ashes go back to 2018 as the solo project of Aelian Hallaji, a long-time musician and songwriter in the Iranian Metal scene and he pursued a vision of fast paced heavy riffs, metaphorically pleading lyrics and eerie middle eastern themes as he built the mountain. Single “Blood Red Hands” was released in August 2020 and was swiftly followed by a very well received debut EP “Agonizing Awakening” a month later but then the trail went cold as Hallaji had taken the decision to relocate to Finland. There he invited musicians from Tampere to join him and take the studio project to full band, their first work together being “The Fabricated Monolith“…

…as one chapter ends another begins and part of the brilliance of “The Fabricated Monolith” is that it looses none of the ethnicity of Hallaji’s previous work. Despite being created in the freezing temperatures of Finland, the Iranian sun still shines through these cuts with instrumental opener “Säraghaz” transporting you to a Middle Eastern bazaar with a Persian Setar, a type of lute used in Persian traditional music, creating a soothing warmth. “Fallen From Grace” then climbs from that with tribal drum fills before flying off the handle with fast paced Melodic Death Metal riffs and scathing shrill vocals reminiscent of recent works Nekrogoblikon which threaten to burst your ear drums. The vocal layering works really well with cleans over the top of those sharper shrill uncleans for a couple of fist pumping bridges. You can’t escape the lyrical narrative as Hallaji raises issues of challenging social, cultural and economic conditions imposed by the Iranian Government upon the countries people and that creates the backbone of “Exalted Traitors“, giving you something to think on once the headbanging is over. That could be a while with the bombastic staccato riff breaks, ripping solos that play off against each other and a Persian Setar moment that is just mesmerising. The quality here is unquestionable, this EP feeling like something of an Amuse-bouche, an appetizer before the main event [8/10]

Track Listing