My thanks as always to Ten/Nth keys man Darrel Treece-Birch for supplying this review copy of Nth Ascension’s new album titled In Fine Initium. It’s due for release on 14 October 2016.
Their debut album (review here) was excellent. This follow-up turns it up at least one adjective. Superlative is the word I’ll use. Proper prog/metal with a monster production job. They’ve heavied things up a bit since the debut too for a “chunkier” feel.
Huge washes of sound from Martin Walker’s guitars which merge well with Darrel’s keys which in turn stretch out on their own. Inventive stuff. Craig and Gavin Walker slot in behind to big up the sound even more. Alan ‘Spud’ Taylor shoves in a towering vocal presence too.
These boys perform seven cuts on In Fine Initium with over an hour of intricate yet accessible progressive/neoclassical rock to enjoy.
Check out the opener Kingdom Keys with the big sound hitting from the first chord. An epic start with all the requisite elements to the fore driven along by that guitar/keyboard combination. End of Days not dissimilar but yet different to demonstrate the variation brought to proceedings.
A marvellous instrumental follows – So, Thaw Was the Apocalypse. A sort of Uriah Heep/Rush mash in style as it rocks along. Listen to it on the Bandcamp page here:
https://nthascension.bandcamp.com/album/in-fine-initium-2
My personal favourite – The Cage – is next. Another sweeping epic with a heavy edge and soulful melodic passages.
A huge three-part “trilogy” takes up the remainder of the 60+ minutes which appears to be a continuation of the Clanaan Parts 1, 2 and 3 from the debut album. The three here – Parts 4, 5 and 6 give us yet another epic, sweeping, rocking, meandering, intricate set of music middled out by another fine instrumental to join Part 4 and 6 together.
In Fine Initium is indeed that – fine. And much more on top of that. To give you a taste of the range and power on offer, here’s a sample video ahead of the release.
No doubt watching and listening has your ears screaming at your brain to buy a copy for yourself. You can do that via the record label here:
http://mrrmusic.com/album/in-fine-initium/
Nth Ascension give us modern prog/rock at its best. Have no doubt. Surely In Fine Initium will make a big splash in the genre. More about the band here: http://www.nthascension.com/
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