In saeculum obscurum… — Envisioning and embodying the brutal rise-and-fall of a great medieval empire has thus far turned out fitting enough format for the formative years of Copenhagen, Denmark-based black metal trio Ascendency as their own form of death metal braced bestial-austere craft sources its identity from a patchwork of phrase-first guitar melodies and gnarled grooves. Their second in a three-arc line of mLP releases, ‘A Manifest of Imperious Destiny‘ proposes a vignette-sized view into an indomitable reign beyond their first official release. The din of conquer and the ascension to the throne were a bloodied, messiest affair but now that these folks’re seated within a great hall so does the landscape change before our ears in this expansive, vainglorious chest-beaten gaze upon the spoils of manifest destiny. While the greater effect of the band’s work is still a dark, underground black metal affair the scope of this record is exponential in its gains, granting the listener tangible progress made as they soak in the breathtaking dominion resultant.

As far as I’ve gathered Ascendency is the vision of S.D. who is best known for his work in Phrenelith and Alucarda but the trio also features brilliant guitarist Mathias Friborg (Hyperdontia, Taphos, et al.) and Ugur (Septage, Taphos) on drums, these folks formed the group sometime prior to 2019 with a style that quickly concerned itself with an austere melodic bent and a bestial black/death metal touch to their sound design (or lack thereof.) The ‘old school’ atmospheric quality of those recordings translated well beyond their associated projects but was clearly more black metal in intent compared to prior work.

While I’d not found Ascendency‘s work primitive or bass-skanked as Profanatica or as doomed and distant as Demoncy the first demo tape (‘Ascending Primacy‘, 2019) from the band as well as their follow-up mLP (‘Birth of an Eternal Empire‘, 2020) were quickly lumped under that Incantation-esque sense of atmosphere largely for the sake of the song that’d opened both releases (“Altered Beast”) due to its clear death metal influences, something akin to the ‘Realm of Chaos‘ influenced side of Finnish death metal if we cut the body down to the riffs. My main comment at the time was: “Despite the production sound and general style of the release hinting at that early-to-mid 90’s USBM death grime, each song here features some manner of melodic centerpiece that is yet distinctly Scandinavian in flavor.” and I suppose this applies even more today as the sort of ‘black metal from death metal obsessed minds’ feeling of Ascendency‘s approach continues to evolve; While I could dissect that first mLP quite a bit more we find only that same sense of riff progression, or, modulation of central phrase within ‘A Manifest of Imperious Destiny‘ as the production values expand into landscape-sized point of view enough to envision the span of the new empire arisen.

As the second of three short releases which thematically construct a narrative of empiricism conscious of the pratfalls of ambitious conquest one might find it necessary to check back in with the previous release to grasp the events that’d given rise to the before digging into this release’s task of detailing the reign of said empire before the proposed third act, a horrendous betrayal, is readied. Any band offering a conceptual narrative for the invocation of their early work risks taking a leap of personal development in the midst of several years worth of releases and in this sense we do find ‘A Manifest of Imperious Destiny‘ far more refined in its production values and experiencing a deeper than expected bout of change in its tone. Now we can fully shake off that “primitive” black metal preconceived notion and approach Ascendency for the deeper well of phrasal rhythm guitar ambition that it is.

If we must strike directly at the heart of progress, and identify the piece to mark the way forward then the 9+ minute title track which closes this ~29 minute record is the place to start. Oddly enough this feeds us right to a ‘Necroticism: Descanting the Insalubrious‘ level riff to start, a truncation of the larger shape of the main motif of the piece which otherwise uses the speed metallic narrative popularized by groups like Dissection to present its verve before a reaching tremolo-picked riff expands its scope in and out of dual guitar wrangled escalation and refrain. This should rightfully feel leagues more sophisticated than prior work even if it fundamentally only relaxes meter and note count; The rest of the tracklist is comprised of shorter, similarly intense pieces with comparable construction starting with opener “Triumph of Draconian Might” and its easily followed verse riffs and kicking intensity again landing more in the realm of Scandinavian black metal per the complete fixation upon the moment rather than the speed metal interruptus which’d otherwise imply a USBM inspiration.

The voice of the album is neatly contiguous from this point, linear in its thought process and evocative in its sombre calculations of phrase. When taking in the entire conversation, the spectacle and the sentimental depth of each piece, I couldn’t help but favor the command of “Victory – In All Its Ephemeral Glory” as the most profound and representative example of Ascendency‘s work to date, particularly enjoying the use of nuanced synth/keyboards to build the song from within as it plays. When we pair that piece with “Domitor Invictus” it best exemplifies the continuous, captivating full listen on hand where once one enters the stream it becomes difficult to step away from the throes of the greater thread. There is a sense of pleasure listening which applies here which is both textural in terms of the guitar arrangements as well as the easily read nature of the work. It isn’t perhaps always as stirring as a melodic black metal album might be but would still likely appeal to that sort of fandom.

Their grotesque black wings, revealed. — ‘A Manifest of Imperious Destiny‘ is admirable, enjoyable even, as a complete thought and an impressive second chapter in Ascendency‘s origin story. While I believe the extra something, the bit of mastery that might help the band stand out even more, is yet in development and in-process herein there is no question that I’d been deeply immersed and called back for extensive listens as I discovered and revealed the shapeliness of their empire at its peak realization. I don’t think it’ll be too out of line to suggest there is a leap made here, certainly in terms of fidelity and perhaps also in the composition of their work as prominently black metal work. A high recommendation.

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