Band:	Amiensus
Album:	Ascension
Style:	Melodic black metal, Progressive metal
Release date:	July 2015

01. On These Deserted Plains
02. Towards Horizon
03. What Worlds Create
04. One In Spirit
05. Delphic Æther
06. Divine Potion Of Acumen
07. Time Is Growing Old
08. Glass Dungeon
09. What Evil Lay Dorment

I enjoy reviewing follow-up works from unsigned/smaller acts who contact me to review their initial offerings. It's always interesting to see how they have progressed.

Amiensus contacted me to review Restoration about two years ago. Enjoyed it, even if I was a tad out of my element.

Susan described it thus:

Written by Susan on 09.06.2013 at 17:53

They seem to float around the ether between genres, never really landing anywhere, and not necessarily "combining" genres. Just playing emotional, intense music.

Dead on. And that description remains equally accurate for their latest, Ascension.

So their sophomore release sees more of that approach. Amiensus glide and shift, floating around genre walls. At times they are meloblack, though seemingly with a bit more bile this ago around, at other moments they channel their inner Dimmu Borgir. They sound prog for stretches, at other almost a stripped down power metal (co-mingling male and female vocals during parts coated with synths). This is likely the reason you'll see a lot of other bands' names tossed around as points of comparison when people describe the album.

Several years ago Solitude had me review an act they dubbed "Dark Metal" - I imagine the descriptor fits here as well. The songs are really well crafted by skilled musicians, definitely build and develop as they go, and while incorporating trappings of more "positive" metal (see the stripped down power points), Amiensus keep it tinged with a healthy dose of melancholy and restraint. While they switch their residency from one metal kingdom to another, it doesn't sound terribly abrupt of force. I used "gliding" earlier as it is a representative term here. The sound quality/production work is really well done as well.

Favorite track was easily the closer "What Evil Lays Dormant", truthfully, not only for the riffs, and the rasped vocals, but the clean chorus vocals are great.

So while perhaps a tad outside my wheelhouse (still), they have enough going on that anyone who appreciates melodic metal tinged with a slight melancholy should be able to find a lot they like. Ascension would probably serve as a decent gateway album, as well, for those who interested in exploring music with a tinge of darkness.