Out this week: Ancst

The always prolific German entity Ancst will follow up their earlier EP in 2020 with a full-length album called Summits of Despondency. If you are new to this music, Ancst is known for something along the lines of melodic black metal with hardcore punk. The music is not as strange as it may appear. It comes across as blasting melodic extreme metal, with some black metal guitar work and drumming, some melodic death metal parts, hardcore/melodeath screaming, and some chugging that might make you think of hardcore. For your information, the lyrics and politics of the band are associated with left-wing political views, which is a reason to reject or like them, depending on your views. For example, if you don't like ultra leftist preaching in your music, definitely avoid this band. They are something like Rage Against the Machine playing extreme metal.

Ancst

Summits of Despondency

September 18th, 2020

"with a hefty back catalog of 23 releases spanning from raw black metal and dark ambient to a fusion of metallic hardcore and various extreme metal sub-genres, ANCST are certainly no strangers to experimentation. although they have managed to create a trademark sound that is their own every new release tends to add some spices to the mix and ANCST's third album "summits of despondency" is no exception. while staying true to their melting pot metal/hc crossover styled blast beat extravaganza there are bits of ambient and drone and even film music thrown in the mix. although ANCST themselves look at the blast beat as supreme discipline they allow themselves to slow down when needed just to come back at you with full force when you don't expect it. ANCST has always been an outspoken band in their lyrics and so it is natural that "summits" deals with political topics, criticizes social injustices but is also brave enough to put topics such as mental health and other very personal issues out into the open. again the band stayed true to their DIY roots and recorded, mixed, mastered, designed and co-released everything by themselves with the help of lifeforce records."

summits of despondency by ANCST