Ancst - Summits of Despondency (2020)

Always delivering extremely interesting releases, today we have Germany’s Ancst and their latest effort “Summits of Despondency”. Intricately layering many styles into a very pummeling and yet melancholic sound, this album features nearly 45 minutes of viciously delivered intense music. While genre purists will not enjoy the medley of styles in this release, we are huge fans of the amount of creativity and well crafted intermingling of everything from hardcore to Post-Black Metal.

Opening with the crushing “Kill Your Inner Cop”, the band instantly oozes an Hypocrisy vibe with menacing guitars and relentless intensity. The vocals are quite hectic and probably the singular identifying characteristic of the band’s diverse musical explorations, as this track bleeds into the more melodic “Inferno” and “Final Hour”. Due to the intensity of the band’s musical approach, songs quickly blend into each other, and before you can tell , you have heard 4-5 songs without even noticing.

The two parts of “The Burden of Hope” perfectly blend the band’s atmospheric and Post-Metal sides into a very dramatic and engaging song. We particularly love how well the melancholic music blends with Tom Schmidt’s relentless vocals. Things continue to get more interesting with the dreamy opening of “Razed Eden” and its oozing melancholic intensity, and the dramatic tempo changes of “Denazification”, filled with hypnotic atmospheric interludes.

Closing in style with the powerful “Monotony of Anguish” and the more cinematic “Monolith” and its dreamy atmospheric nature. Overall, “Summits of Despondency” is one of those releases that while completely ravagining and intense, it offers glimpses of melody and atmosphere that are perfectly blended together. If you like Metal music that combines many genres, Ancst is one of those bands that continues to push the boundaries.

Label: Lifeforce Records

Release: September 18th, 2020

Genre: Extreme Metal

Country: Germany