Review INGESTED ‘Ashes Lie Still’

England’s death metal outfit Ingested is already active since 2006 and released a ferocious debut album called ‘Surpassing the Boundaries of Human Suffering’. This was in 2009 and since then the outfit has been present in the record stores with new releases at regular intervals.

Nevertheless, Ingested might be known outside their home country only to a smaller amount of fans, which is about to change these days. In the course of time Metal Blade Records became aware of the Brits and signed them to a contract. Thus, all gates to a wide listenership are completely open and the guys add their part with the new songs on ‘Ashes Lie Still’.

The seventh album of the band that has shrunk to trio size includes ten songs and a remix of ‘Rebirth’. Deep growls and hellish screaming alternate within the songs and with tempo breaks like in ‘You’ll Never Learn’ the band creates some good moments of tension. This is enhanced by the guest vocals of Trivium’s Matt Heafy.

Even if each of the songs sounds quite good, it is the entirety that is overwhelming and exhausting in the long run. There is too much thunder coming out of the speakers and even if Ingested builds in enough variety, you can’t avoid the impression that you are getting overrun by a steamroller for 44 minutes. That may certainly be the intention of the guys and also find an inclined audience. For my taste, however, it is a bit too much of everything which should not be looked at as a sign of quality.