San Diego's Bloodbath: Ashen Earth

Let's be real.  Life in San Diego can be stressful and make you uptight.  There is simply no better solution to this problem than banging your head against your wall, desk, or neighbor to the vicious beats of heart-pounding death metal.  Personally, a well-rounded playlist of Bloodbath, Entombed, Decapitated, and Cannibal Corpse is healthier for my soul than chicken soup.  And when I later discovered that local members of Ashen Earth live and breathe this playlist through original compositions, I couldn't say no to listening to their self-titled debut album.

As depressing as the San Diego metal scene is becoming, it is bands like Ashen Earth that give me hope that the scene will truly, hopefully sooner rather than later, arise from its ashes.  The album does not so much focus on technicality as it does power, the absolute key to a successful death metal piece in my strong opinion.  A perfect example would be the song "When Stars Die;" the infectious groove-laden intro trips the listener out of the comfort zone and immediately picks up into a vigorous down-tuned melodies that is sadistically pleasurable to the ears.  The ambient breakdown toward the end is accompanied by Behemoth-like vocals and gradually cuts out one of the coolest San Diego metal songs I've ever heard.  The day this band encounters a famous producer, all he's got to do is amp up that bass guitar so that songs like "Oculos Ad Veritatem" and "Blind to the End" can get the listener's undivided attention, and this band would be on the way to becoming Immolation Junior!

"Caress the Flesh," "Equations of Power and Pain," and "Vigil of the Woods" are all stand-out tracks as well, and I am definitely proud of the mark that this band is making on San Diego.  It won't go unappreciated for long.

For fans of:
Behemoth, Bloodbath, Cannibal Corpse, Decapitated

Members:

Jeff Meredith-Vocals
David Cox-Guitars
Pat Sissom-Guitars
Bryant Furman-Bass
John Cordes-Drums

Links:

http://www.reverbnation.com/ashenearth

http://www.youtube.com/ashenearthofficial

https://twitter.com/ashenearth

http://www.myspace.com/ashenearth

http://ashenearth.tumblr.com

http://ashenearthofficial.blogspot.com