Ash Borer is a band that should be far more known within our shadowy circles than they are in actuality, despite their seemingly intentional mysteriousness. Well, they can't be all that mysterious if they have a Pandora station which is how I discovered them (sort of) about five years ago. Still and all, this band does seem to have operated under a cloak of obscurity during their activity. Not that they are inactive currently, but really who knows? I haven't seen, heard nor read anything about this band since 2016's The Irrepassable Gate on Profound Lore Records. According to their very dope website (hit the link, you pink) they were last active in 2017 on tour.
Prior to the discovery of their presence on Pandora, I had seen an ad of theirs for either a tour or a release (not quite sure which) in Decibel magazine and remember instantly being struck by the name which resonated with me for some odd reason. I also distinctly remember an ambivalent feeling towards their logo, as in I found it interesting but was not really sure if I dug it or not. I began listening to Ash Borer in 2015, as a result of a conscious decision made that year to check out more American Black Metal as opposed to European which the bulk of what I was consuming at the time was. I simply logged on to Pandora and searched Ash Borer since it was the only USBM band name that I had tucked into my memory and sure enough they had their own station. Thus, the love affair with this band began...
As far as how fresh or original this band's take on the Black Metal sound is I really can't comment because they are the first (and only) band in this category that I've ventured into. What category is that you ask? Okay, that's complicated. Generally speaking, Ash Borer is considered to be an "Atmospheric Black Metal" band, a term of definition that they themselves have rejected in one particular interview I viddied on Vice's website (hit the link). I think this term can loosely encapsulate them but they don't seem to care for it. There's another term that has been used to denominate Ash Borer and a group of others (bands such as Agalloch, Wolves In The Throne Room, Fell Voices and Liturgy). That term is "Cascadian Black Metal". Now, to try and explain this subgenre succinctly...
Cascadia refers to a bio-region that encompasses what is Nor Cal and the Pacific Northwest with parts of British Columbia and stretches as far west as Wyoming and Montana. There is a whole ecological movement that exists concerning this region. Its goals are to establish an independent nation state within the borders of the Cascadian territory for the purposes of environmentalism, bioregionalism, and civil liberties. The movement/region even has a super "tree-huggy" flag. I recommend viddying the wiki page for the Cascadian Movement. It's kind of interesting and has been going on right in our country, under our Roman noses, unbeknownst to most of us for a hot minute.
"Cascadian Black Metal" then implies two main characteristics. First, it implies that a band under this blanket term hails from somewhere in that general vicinity of Cascadia, which simply is not so. Yes a couple of these groups that have caught underground rec' happen to be from the region, but it is still too small a fraction to make the broad assumption that "Cascadian" BM is a regional sound.
Second, it implies that these bands subscribe to a strong environmental bent, which may be the only true unifying factor that "Cascadian" BM bands have in common. So what does environmentalism have to do with Black Metal you ask? Look, it just does! There is the whole pagan aspect of Black Metal, and paganism definitely holds having a strong connection to nature as one of its core values and so that is how environmentalism probably found its way into BM's fringe ideologies. Plus, Bathory and then later on all the old Norwegian bands that set the bar for the second wave of BM made forest cos-play a part of the shtick. It would only be a matter of time from there on out before kids ran with the "kicking it in the forest" vibe, playing Generator shows out in the boonies at nighttime until ultimately arriving at Satanic Environmental Terrorism. At any rate, it is an unfortunate and annoying label for a subgenre. I hate it more than the term 'Shoegaze'.
Whereas Black Metal's tone typically sounds like a descent into hell, Ash Borer sounds more like a descent into the deepest, unexplored caverns of human emotion. A place where there is only the self; where the most crushing loneliness can be experienced either in a wide open space or a tightly confined solitary cell, and the only cry for help you can muster becomes muffled and distant to even thine own ears. The preceding metaphor alludes to two juxtaposed elements of their sound, the expansive wide-openness created by the synths and the constricting, claustrophobic sense of being closed in on caused by the unrelenting blast beats. There aren't any lyrics over the quasi-symphonic (at times) riffing, no real words used to imply anything or to guide the mind to any particular concept. The only vocals are distant howls and screams that swell in the background just so, as if screams of a torment not physical, but one born in the soul. Those visceral lamentations, in true Cascadian fashion (I suppose), reverberate over the music as if echoes through a dark forest (full of gorgeous Douglas Fir trees) at night.
What draws me in so deeply into Ash Borer's sound is the moodiness. Despite being VERY Black Metal in their execution, the themes being conveyed are not of 'evil' or grimness, but rather emotional (I feel). The keyboard/synths on Cold Of Ages, the LP that I am strongly recommending, lend such an intense brooding feel to the songs. When the synths are countered with the flurried blasts it creates a feeling of soaring almost. The album sounds like a tumultuous flight into a maelstrom of dark sentiment. The band has quite a bit of work under their belts, out on all three formats. But out of the releases that I've been able to purchase copies of on CD, this is the one, the jump off...
(front cover artwork for the Bloodlands EP)
Really, their illest shit is the Bloodlands EP, as well as being their most "atmospheric" expression, but that record is one of those vinyl only deals so that excludes me from ownership. Those of you that know me well can vouch for the fact that I don't like consuming music that truly touches me without paying the artist for it, but the Bloodlands joint is a record that I will have to admire via Youtube. I would have loved to fork over my ten to twenty dollars for a copy on CD, but I don't do the vinyl thing.
Cold Of Ages is the one that I revisit periodically while the others in my collection (the s/t first full-length and The Irrepassable Gate) not so much. Need a viddy to make up your own mind do you? Then I suggest "Removed Forms", which is the fourth and final track off of Cold Of Ages. Do me a favor, will ya? Sit through the whole fucking thing and give this austere, majestic 15 minute dirge the respect it deserves! It begins serene like a requiem mass and then just explodes into absolute mayhem. What a ride!
Oh and by the way, if you're wondering just what the fuck the term 'Ash Borer' is supposed to mean, here it is:
The Emerald Ash Borer is a type of beetle (ugh) native to north-eastern Asia. They are an invasive species with quite an appetite for Ash Trees, but other than that there is nothing particularly evil, sinister or Satanic about them that make them 'Metal'. But since it has a ring to it that's probably why they appropriated the name (you know, Ash Borer, Ashes, symbolic for mourning, mourning is depressive, hence the moody sound, bla bla bla). So in short, the Ash Borer is a beetle. God, I fucking hate beetles! Someone, anyone, please bring me the severed head of Paul McCartney so that I can skull-fuck it and then kick a field goal with it!
Goooooooooaaaaaaaaalllllllll!!!!!!!!!
Smooches, pooches!
