Claret Ash

TOMORROW is Friday the 13th, and the Ampocalypse is upon us - Canberra progressive black metal band Claret Ash will perform in Hobart.

..the “Extreme” stage will be headlined by Canberra progressive black metal band Claret Ash, who released their intense and atmospheric debut album The Cleansing in June. - The Mercury

It’s not too often that we hear something out of Canberra that really catches our ear these days, but Claret Ash did just that with their 2013 EP Ground Dweller. The production left something to be desired, but it was some seriously promising progressive black metal.

On July 8th, they release their debut full length The Cleansing, and below is the first new track from it. The press release sums it up pretty well; it’s more riff-focused, more intense, and rather than the more spacious vibe of lengthy atmospheric black metal tracks, it instead has that eerie blackened death vibe that Dark Fortress do so well.

“The Cleansing evolves from the more atmospheric sound of the previous album, and focuses on bringing to life the violence and intensity of change, of the shifting seasons, and of the turmoil of human emotion. This is reflected in the aggressive musicianship that showcases faster, more extreme drumming, a more brutal, dissonant guitar sound and a truly haunting and unique vocal range. While still citing black/extreme metal acts such as Wolves in the Throne Room, Ulver and Enslaved as major influences, for this album CLARET ASH have incorporated more blackened-death elements, reminiscent of late Behemoth, Dark Fortress, and The Great Old Ones.”

Below is the track listing and the stunning artwork created by Stigma Art, who is also handling the art for the upcoming The Faceless album.

1. Tides of Darkness
2. Effigy of Insolence
3. Desolation of a Pierced Soul
4. The Sombre Fields
5. As These Flowers Wither… Now I Must Decay
6. The Cleansing
7. Life Transcended
Part 1. Rise
Part 2. Drained
Part 3. Death
8. Deciduous, Change of Skin
9. The Wolves Have Fed Tonight

Pre-orders are now available through Bandcamp due for release on July 8th. And you can hear some of the new material live at the following shows;

10th July @ Melbourne (TBC)
11th July @ Bendigo Hotel, Melbourne w/ Earth, Adamus Exul, Feralian, Wood of Suicides, Subterranean Drilling Machine
18th July @ Transit Bar, Canberra w/ Rise of Avernus, Futility, And Then Silence
14th August @ The Basement, Canberra w/ Sorathian Dawn, Atra Vetosus, Legion of the Horn, Avascular Necrosis
15th August @ Newcastle (TBC)
21st August @ Launcestion (TBC)
22nd August @ Hobart (TBC)
29th August @ Bald Faced Stag, Sydney w/ Belligerent Intent, Cruciform, Sorathian Dawn, Daemon Foetal Harvest, Viscera - Metal Obsession

Oh, Australia, how/why you’re currently experiencing this upsurge in attention and exposure for your contribution to the world of the Metallic arts I don’t know… but I do know that it’s thoroughly deserved.

I mean, seriously, I don’t even have to think all that hard to come up with a frankly staggering array of all the great things that have come from Down Under in recent years… Be’Lakor, Ne Obliviscaris, Drowning the Light, Orpheus Omega, Whoretopsy, the highly underappreciated Okera, Dawn of Azazel, Stargazer, Innsmouth, my current personal favourites Sanzu, Rise of Avernus, Advent Sorrow, Watchtower, Hope Drone, Spire, Wardaemonic, The Schoenberg Automaton, Caligula’s Horse, Mad Max… the list goes on!

Well, not to be forgotten or outdone, the boys in Claret Ash have just unleashed their sophomore effort, and what a nasty little piece of high-quality sonic darkness it is!



Claret Ash 2015



Without going into too many specifics, The Cleansing is filled to bursting with scything, scorched-earth riffing, dominating drum work, and gnarled, glass-chewing vocals, whose distinctive delivery – a ravaged, feverish snarl of fury and contempt – positively drips with equal parts venom and anguish.

The songs themselves – nine of them in total — shift dynamically and organically between fast and slow, darkness and light, cruelty and beauty, punishing power and malign melody, and do so with a tightness and accuracy that’s absolutely mesmerising.

The amount of melody on display is also particularly impressive, in that it never weakens or distracts from the sheer intensity of the music. Rather, these serpentine lead lines, these perfectly placed solo sections and cutting, virulently infectious riffs, all weave together into a constricting net of keenly sharpened, flesh-rending hooks designed to draw the listener inexorably into the maelstrom of ravenous aggression and raw, keening emotion at the heart of each song.

As solemn and melancholy as it is scathing and misanthropic, as electrifying and as powerful as it is regal and majestic, The Cleansing is an absolutely fantastic album from start to finish, and one which rivals the brilliance of Der Weg Einer Freiheit’s phenomenal Stellar as one of this year’s most perfect examples of the art of Black Metal in all its unabashed and unrelenting power and glory.

Play it loud, and play it proud.

And then play it again.

https://claretash.bandcamp.com/album/the-cleansing
https://www.facebook.com/claretashAus - No Clean Singing (NCS)

Claret Ash, from Canberra, Australia, have recorded a sophomore album named The Cleansing, which will be released on July 8. Yesterday the band revealed the album’s cover art and a new song named “Desolation of A Pierced Soul”. The album cover was created by one of my favorite metal art talents, Sam Nelson (Stigma), and I think it’s wonderful. So is the new song.

The music succeeds both in creating a bleak, blasted atmosphere and in firing all the neurons in your brain with an attack of ferocious riffs that jab like jackhammers and grind like concrete saws. The music’s exotic melody slithers through the thundering drumbeats and destructive riffs like a cobra, while the vocalist vents his fury in an array of feral growls and howls. A really enticing teaser for this new album.

The Cleansing is available for pre-order now at Bandcamp (linked below), and the pre-order will get you an immediate download of “Desolation”.

http://claretash.bandcamp.com/album/the-cleansing
https://www.facebook.com/claretashAus - No Clean Singing (NCS)

About two weeks ago I came across (and wrote about) a new single from The Cleansing, the forthcoming second album by Claret Ash from Canberra, Australia. Yesterday the band released a second song from the album, this one named “The Sombre Fields” — and it’s just as good as that first track.

The music is a rumbling, rolling phalanx of vibrating riffs and munitions-grade percussion, but in addition to being a galvanizing ride, the song is also blessed with moving waves of dark, memorable melody. It’s a bleak and blasted trip, befitting the song’s title, but it has staying power — and the vocals are completely unhinged, so thoroughly off the chain that you wonder whether the recording session ended in a trip to the emergency room. Really excellent melodic black metal, and further proof that this new album will be worth exploring in depth.

The Cleansing will be released on July 8 and it’s available for pre-order on Bandcamp.

https://claretash.bandcamp.com/album/the-cleansing
https://www.facebook.com/claretashAus - No Clean Singing (NCS)

Launching their sophomore album, 'The Cleansing', Canberra's finest progressive black metal export, CLARET ASH, will be unveiling their new opus for the first time. After relentlessly touring over the last couple of years, showcasing their material in front of Australian and Japanese audience, CLARET ASH will be playing a massive set to their home audience, performing tracks from their stellar new release for the first time. Expect the capital to be completely crushed by the time CLARET ASH complete their set! - Transit Bar

Bleak, blasting black metal with a strong pair of gnashing teeth. I might be better versed in Australia’s underground/raw black metal scene, but this is a nice contender for the genre’s more polished side. - invisible oranges

Onto far more positive things, Canberra’s black progressive-flavoured Claret Ash have been hard at work, and are on the cusp of releasing a new album entitled The Cleansing. Following tours of the east coast and Japan last year, the guys hunkered down to conjure malevolent forces that they may unleash on an unsuspecting world. You can find out more on the band’s website, as well as pre-order the album ahead of its July 8 release: claretash.bandcamp.com. The album release is celebrated by a good run of shows around the country, including two Canberra shows. One will be at Transit Bar on Saturday July 18 with Rise of Avernus, Futility and And Then The Silence in support. Another will be at The Basement on Friday August 14 with Sorathian Dawn, Atra Vetosus, Legion of the Horn and Avascular Necrosis. Congrats and well done on the hard work, gents. - BMA Magazine

2015 has been a good year for black and death metal, and the interbreeding currently happening between the two camps is a marvelous thing to behold. One bastard offspring (with familial traits drawn more clearly from the black metal side) of that hideous mingling is Australia’s insidious Claret Ash. The Cleansing seems poised to liberate you from your mortal coil in a distinctly Aussie fashion: with stinging, biting, clawing, and burning. Surrender to the allure of the violent wilderness. FFO: Desolate Shrine, Immorium, Ashbringer (W.) - Toilet ov Hell

Claret Ash - The Cleansing
STIGMA: Sam Nelson's Art
( OfficialPage )

Four covers for a single disk and that we could not leave any behind why include them all that amazing job.

*Translated from Spanish*

Cuatro portadas para un solo disco y es que no podíamos dejar ninguna atrás por eso las incluimos todas, que increíble trabajo. - atasque