Regent Graves - Ashes
Released back in May 2024. Ashes by Regen Graves is the seventh album from this act. An Italian act which (for some reason) has slipped past my ears. The sole member of Regen Graves is also a member of the doom metal act Abysmal Greif and a former member of the goth-prog band Malombra. And with this project, he decided to get into that classic (and morbid) Italian industrial sound, and he has done that since 2017.
This album has been released by Bent Window Records. A limited 200 copies CD in a slim digipack. The artwork shows an old photo, a tram there, and some old buildings on the right... the sort of buildings that (usually) are demolished where I am... which is Denmark. And then there is the car, is it an older Lada car? Tram, old buildings, Lada? It could be from the late 60s. The album title is Ashes. Is snow representing the ash, or is it the other way around, or is it the ash that comes from the steam-fumes? I don't know, let's get on with the recordings.
The first track is called What Lies Ahead. It gets straight into a psychedelic death-industrial vibe with a minimal approach. Shimmering sound effects are also there to heighten the atmospheric experience. There is also a distorted pulse. Fleshscraping and moody intro-track, giving the listener a need to isolate themselves...from all the bloody snow and cold outside!
The second track, Road of Ashes. Chopped up distortion sounds and a ritualistic beating. Classic death-industrial mood. Some subtle and spaced high-frequency feedback warps in and out. Sound quality is really good, and the vibe is very low-tech and analog (so far). And again, Road of Ashes? Is it snow or is it... Maybe the corpses from when we had the plague? Various old roads in my town, beneath them... filled with people who died from the plague, bones, and dust.
The third track is called The Hand. A high-pitched microscopic rhythm with some echoed effects to it. Almost pleasant ambient sounds in the background, with a sample from an Italian movie in the background. I get that 70s retro feel with that vibe, thinking back to Brighter Death Now´s Heart of Stone, while it had a sample from Salo... although they talked in English. Very hypnotic piece with that high-pitched sound going on, the listener will experience that feeling of getting... sucked into it. Moving without moving, sort of.
The fourth track, Winters Without Springs. Which means no food, nothing that grows... everything is just too damn cold! The track begins with a nerve-wracking jolt of sound, accompanied by a depressive ambient mourn in the background. You really get that feeling that whatever u do, doom is around the corner.
The fifth track is called Normalization Pt.. 1. A warping and psychedelic intro sets the stage for a journey into the very eye of some... well, cosmic horror from beyond. The sort that eats worlds for breakfast! There are (I think) some kind of spoken vocals here; they do not sound like a movie sample. Lovely kind of buzzsaw-sound in there as well.
The sixth (and last) track is Normalization Pt.2. A warped retro synth kicks in, imagining Terminators rising from the ashes of nuclear-bombed soldiers. Yup, we definitely have movie samples on this track. And something which sounds ( a bit ) like a bomb alert. Yup, there is a John Carpenter feel here.
And that ends the album. It´s a great introduction album for newbies to the world of Italian death-industrial, without a doubt! But for the hardcore type, you´ll probably be longing for the work of Marco Corbelli at some point. As for me (I'm the so-called hardcore type), I miss certain elements of madness and desperation. A bit more chaos into the expression/sound, a just a dose of unpredictability? It´s ok to just fxxx up the sound, just once in a while.
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