Ascension - "The Years of Fire" cd

First things first, this is NOT the same Ascension that released the excellent Consolamentum full length in 2010. Those dudes are a black metal band from Germany, and although that record is awesome, they are not the topic of discussion here. No sir, this is a 90s hardcore punk-oriented blog, so apologies if you were tricked into discovering this blog while looking for stuff from the current Ascension. THIS ASCENSION played mean as fuck, metal as fuck, and seriously moshy evil hc that would captivate fans of some more well-known, yet like-minded, somewhat similar sounding bands from twenty years ago: Morning Again, All Out War, Abnegation, Bloodlet, Undying, Earthmover, Torn Apart, For The Love Of...you probably get the idea.

My experience with this Ascension (who hail from suburban Cleveland, Ohio) when they were active was pretty minimal. I never saw them nor owned any of their records, but I did have a couple of comps they appeared on, including the absolutely loaded Definitely Not The Majors compilation cd, which was put out by Bush League in '97 ( it could very well have been 1998, now that I think about it). As an aside, I plan on ripping and uploading that disc here very soon, so keep an eye out, yo! Their contribution to that compilation, "Clayden", was one of the highlights of that release for me, and probably will be for you, too.

Upon inspection of the layout for The Years of Fire, one gets the impression that these dudes really loved Satan. Satan and moshing. They even include a quote from Mr. Anton LaVey, founder of the Church Of Satan, on the back cover; "I dip my forefinger into the watery blood of your impotent mad redeemer and write across his thorn torn brow: The TRUE prince of evil, the king of slaves!". Lyrical topics include the band's pro-choice stance ("Infusion") and their aversion to animal testing ("Behind Closed Doors"). They certainly get a head-nod from me right there. The recording decent enough, but more than once I thought I could have sworn the volume briefly either raised or lowered slightly during some songs, but I very well could have made that shit up because I'm getting old and losing my mind. "Evil" and Earth Crisis-influenced, this may or may not be for you. Ascension's guitarist Matt DeVries went on to play in notable Ohio metal band (to some, I suppose) Chimaira.

These songs were recorded in January 1996 at Spider Studio in Cleveland by Ben Schigel. Released by Florida's Toybox Records, who also put out shit from Dragbody and Hot Water Music. These seven jams were also released as a 10" by the same label, and is Toybox number 16.

Tracklist:
1) Transit
2) Kaleidoscope
3) Infusion
4) Malignant
5) Behind Closed Doors
6) Chestnut
7) Station

- Chris would endorse Prozac, but prefers smoking crack -