With every monument crumbled their secreted inner-forms began to leak upwards like souls of the dead screaming toward redemption, filling us with a sense of immense freedom from the spell of their boggling, claw-lined eyes as they went on grasping for foothold. Within the valley they would soon put back to sleep followers of proven leadership, by ache of nostalgia and restless insanity spurned on by the arrogance of the mind-flayers, Scotland and England-based death metal quintet Ageless Summoning saw a gap in the undying death metal psyche and acted with heroic fortitude in braving an old, dead abysm. While their debut full-length album, ‘Corrupting the Entempled Plane‘, may very well cut and build a surreal realm from well-established yet under-represented architecture that should not suggest they are working from a plain, typified template. As an introduction it is a sprawling scene, one which animates and weirds-about as if hallucinated in tiny incremental dodges of the eye, yet there is something eerily comfortable and “real” about this dreamed-together realm which satisfies, blasphemes and corrupts to such a degree that I could not turn away.

Ageless Summoning formed circa 2016 after members of Of Spire & Throne, Scordatura and Abyssal had basically hung out together at the lodgings of a music festival and decided they all shared a passion for similar late 90’s death metal influences. Those points of inspiration were beyond obvious when the side project released its first demo (‘Demo MMXVIII‘, 2018) a couple years later, impressing with a rare direct hit upon the slimier, sludgier Tucker-era grooves of pre-and-post millennium breached Morbid Angel while also aiming to invoke the machine-gloom of that same era of Immolation. Their references were specific in terms of cadence but did not constitute the complete story, functioning as a shorthand for an approach which still points directly to ‘Gateways to Annihilation‘ for its sense of lumbering movement but doesn’t so squarely focus on the contrapuntal dual rhythm grind of said album in favor of a loosened and sprawling interpretation of atmospheric death metal. None of this is should be overthought or analyzed too deeply and such since the band’ve thus far operated under a fairly simple concept with an otherwise elaborate narrative attached.

‘Corrupting the Entempled Plane‘ is neither as buttoned up (in terms of its sound design) on the level of the aforementioned bands nor is it as braced by the directive of shredding leads. One should take the shorthand for “late 90’s old school death metal canon” as a strong reference yet a loose implication of the result. When describing Ageless Summoning as atmospheric death metal I generally mean to suggest production values which ease the harsher, punctuative shapes of proper death metal riffcraft into a singularly meandering force. With this in mind we’re not getting a late 2000’s Drawn and Quartered record, we aren’t touching upon the very well-hidden mastery of Throne of Nails‘ sole LP, nor does the more dissonant ebb of Construct of Lethe apply here yet this band generally falls under this specific umbrella of classicism. Instead expect this record to move more freely, shred leads out in the periphery, and tie its own unique series of knots within a generally familiar format.

Back in ~2002, in a series of event entirely unrelated to nu-metal, I bought a seven string GRX720 specifically to try and learn songs from ‘Gateways to Annihilation‘… and other related stories. — As an obsessive fan of the two bands Ageless Summoning have used for basal reference I’ve got specific formative memories tied to what ‘Corrupting the Entempled Plane‘ is doing sonically but that doesn’t deafen me to what constitutes their own touch, the same way the first Diabolic record isn’t just ‘Blessed are the Sick‘ worship (unless you’re in a particularly edgy forum/chatroom circa the early 2000’s.) This band’s own verve is loose-shouldered, a haze-ridden landscape depicted far from the actual lava-spewing eruption, choked with dust and… this is easier to parse as we touch upon the more ‘Here in After‘-attuned parts of certain songs. “Among the Worms” is probably the best piece to cut open and begin to grasp the band’s modus on a less abstract level while still bearing the most “Where the Slime Live” type groove on the record. Second place in that same regard might be opener “Usurper of the Void” which almost feels like a direct line to “Summoning Redemption” as it thunder-chugs in with its verse riff and breaks off into its own tangent in refrain before what we’d have described as ‘tribal’ drum hits back in the day.

As we crack into the record “Descent from the Infinite” demands we take a closer ear to the work of drummer Hamish MacKintosh whose kit sounds more in tune with a brutal death group per the thumping-hot double bass hits and loaded toms which give this record a bassier, socked-out feeling which is a far cry from the thin, artificial click of Sandoval‘s late 90’s/early 2000’s kit. This creates an obscured, bass-heavy feeling when examining the rhythms of ‘Corrupting the Entempled Plane‘ which dominates even on a flattened EQ, I particularly like this touch but have to admit it floods out the lower register of the rhythm guitar interplay and leaves only the most percussive hits of the bass guitar within earshot. This is especially true as we chip into “Epoch of Souls” and the auto-fire is clicked on song rides out beyond its midpoint. The first three songs which kick this album into motion aren’t bad at all, I get the up front appeal of what they’re weilding, but from my point of view they kinda whipped out Side B gear to start the record and the best pieces are piled up somewhere in the middle of the ~50 minute spin.

The heaviest one-two hit on the full listen is inarguably the ear-catching clutch of “Among the Worms” and the push into the title track (“Corrupting the Entempled Plane“) where it feels like the riff machine is warmed up and the greater palette of the band begins to prove versatile, dynamic in its mid-paced rhythmic churn and rush. As we push beyond this point there arises some need for variety and “Incarnate Nothingness” doesn’t do the trick, attempting to chuck in a few more leads but these only just distract from the lack of movement within the song, though I appreciated the riff ~3:46 minutes in and how the drumming frames it; “Toward the Fractal Absolute” is one of a few pieces on the full listen which helps shift the conversation away from influences and toward Ageless Summoning‘s own aggressive yet psychedelia-strewn trip, acting as a launching pad for the even more indulgent wilding of “Retribution Eternal”. These sorts of rhythmic exaggerations, sustained bends away from the expected parameters and such are where I’d found the band shined best. This shouldn’t suggest that they become a riffless jam band but the broader atmospheric strokes taken here speak to a lot of interesting potential avenues in the future, particularly those which come at a death/doom metal pace (“Salvation in Ash”) while keeping the album feeling loose, unpredictable to some degree.

Considered as a holistic experience Ageless Summoning‘s debut delivers a well-curated audio-visual hit of elite yet approachable underground death metal, unafraid to wear admirable inspiration on its chest like a great possessed medallion and appearing all the more bold for its gear. The beauteous Lovecraftian expanse depicted per Paolo Girardi‘s masterful touch practically yanks us into this world of rot, stone vortices and sulphur which is not only striking but fitting for the experience within; It is however a lot to sit with per session and perhaps that is the right idea, to cut any one one limb off might’ve left their waters feeling scant or, less oppressive overall. While I would typically complain about a ~50 minute death metal album, and there is surely some overstated “fat” to trim here and there, ‘Corrupting the Entempled Plane‘ feels like a very complete, thorough thought which does well to represent the first wave of sinister commune from these folks who’ve clearly been inspired by this collaboration. A high recommendation.

https://darkdescentrecords.bandcamp.com/album/corrupting-the-entempled-plane

---