15th June 2025

Review: “Ascension” by Accursed

Hailing from Connecticut and specialising in Melodic Death Metal with Progressive and Thrash leanings, Accursed formed in 2019 before going through a few different members to get their line up stable. That didn’t happen until 2024 with vocalist Will Devereaux the final piece of the puzzle as he joins bassist Chris Dwyer (100 Proof), guitarist Dave Lee and drummer Lee Swanson (Lightsbane, ex-Oriax, ex-Crawling Chaos). Mixed by Dave Kaminsky (Mourn The Light, Diabology, Bone Church) at Studio Wormwood and mastered by Ryan Williams (The Black Dahlia Murder, Micawber, Necromancing The Stone) at Augmented Audio, the groups debut burnt offering is adorned by artwork from Hans Trisad but the credits don’t stop there. Produced and engineered by Chris Litwin at Hat City Music Prod with additional tracking by Nick Bellmore (Municipal Waste, Kublai Khan, Hatebreed) at Dexter’s Lab means this one has been something of a mammoth undertaking…

Anyone remember Dead Man in Reno? There are more few riffs on opening cut “Opportunity” that are reminiscent of the early 2003 American Metalcore sound, inspired by the infamous Gothenburg Sound as Accursed embrace the heavier end of Melodic Death Metal. The dry, raspy vocals of Devereaux bring to mind bands like Will Haven, the scorched earth left in their wake a demonstration of their power. There are some seriously divine lead guitar moments here and its obvious where the Progressive element comes from, the band not afraid of a little meandering in their rhythms from time to time. What’s different is that this is a melody you can hum and one it gets into your cerebral cortex, there is no escape from it. Devereaux’s shriller tones lend themselves well to the sonic cocktail of “The Way Out” which feels like it was influenced by early As I Lay Dying or It Dies Today with its dark and foreboding atmospheric and slick guitar attack. Make no mistake, there are no clean vocals here what so ever, Devereaux uncleans ensuring that the lyrical narrative is perfectly comprehensive without a lyric sheet while burning the hairs from your ear canals at the same time.

Fleeting lush melodies soar in the mid section of “Blacktooth” before Devereaux proves he has it within him to offer up some seriously brutal roars, a slick solo and a breakdown giving this one all the nostalgia you could want for the early Metalcore era. What separates this from those bands is the clean, crisp sound quality and the purposeful lack of clean vocals which make all the difference because there are also no slow downs to accommodate them. Swanson impresses with some wonderful creativity behind the kit, never afraid to throw in some blast beats or jackhammer footwork as he sees fit. The Chef’s kiss is “Into the Storms“, a barnstormer of a track that combines elements from other sub-genres to give it a more rounded sound. The Progressive Metal leads from the mid section onwards are sublime, the punchy Death Metal moments that come before it confirming this band has sharp teeth should they choose to use them. There is even time to shoehorn in a melancholic grand finale with blast beats that is utterly spellbinding before its done. Don’t sleep on this [8/10]

Track Listing