ASHBREATHER — Hivemind (review)

ASHBREATHER — Hivemind album cover Album · 2022 · Sludge Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
renkls
With results like this, it's hard to see why long form sludge metal isn't a more common venture. Granted, Ashbreather's sophomore album resembles a great deal of growth from their self-titled 2020 debut, which was a promising but unadventurous slice of sludge. But "Hivemind", their 2022 followup compounds hugely on those basic elements and exemplifies how long form songwriting works: the unwavering focus on concept and delivery.

In essence, a science fiction tale told in numerous voices through the medium of a sludge, progressive and psychedelic metal suite, "Hivemind" cautiously treads the line between diversity and fragmentation, merging its eleven parts close to seamlessly into a single thirty-seven minute journey.

Shifting between sludgy doom-like passages into noodling prog, droning ambience and just as quickly jumping out of it, each transition succeeds in keeping fresh and snappy just long enough before moving on. Often albums committed to a single long form concept are content to retread ideas with little to no variance, but Ashbreather has brought considerable maturity and depth to a not-so-commonplace album structure, and ultimately made a song that succeeds not only in being cohesive, but also being a genuine banger of a track that I will likely revisit in future quite often.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
Bosh66 wrote:
1 year ago
This is brilliant, renkls. Thanks for the review!
Tupan wrote:
1 year ago
Welcome back AGAIN, Renkls! This one seems very interesting

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Human Rosin Melodic Metalcore
HATE BREEDER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Through The Hell Hardcore Punk
ENEMY 906
Buy this album from MMA partners
Lightmatter: Rebirth Deathcore
EARTHGAZER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Eye Of Horus (Lightmatter EP Pt. 2) Deathcore
EARTHGAZER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Galaxy888 (Lightmatter EP Pt. 1) Deathcore
EARTHGAZER
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Agremorta - Adrocitas (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 3 days ago
Agremorta - Ploratus Umbra (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 3 days ago
Agremorta - Vertex Membrana (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 3 days ago
HAIL SPIRIT NOIR - The Temple Of Curved Space (Official Track Stream)
HAIL SPIRIT NOIR
adg211288· 3 days ago
In Sulfur - The Gate (OFFICIAL VIDEO) 2022
IN SULFUR
Bosh66· 4 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed