  
Dudley boys Ascendance have taken a huge chunk
of my time and a substantial amount of money since
I attended their first ever show (Thanks lads!)
but in the space of 3 EP’s the band have
progressed passed anything I or even they would
imagined to have.
First up “Steel Horses” which is a
re-recording of a song that appeared on their
first EP “The Hunted”; what I’ve
done is played both recordings back to back just
to give a real view as to how far the band has
progressed, the quality difference is something
that cannot be measured. This latest version has
the best production I’ve heard from the
band and the song itself in its structure is much
superior. The style though, a perfect balance
of metal and hard rock, bringing them away from
being called “outdated”, the crisp
distortion and varying styles of drumming bring
both genres into one for a distinctive sound.
Time to tackle my favourite, “Collapse”.
Easily the best song the band has ever written,
takes that distinctive crossover style I mentioned
and really brings it down into the perfect blend,
if this doesn’t get your head bouncing around
then I don’t know what will. Guitarist Elliot
Rouse has once again astounded me with these riffs
and solos, very talented guy who’s destined
to be one of the greats, a huge shout out to vocalist
Mr Malton also for the vast improvement in his
vocal work, you can really hear it when you compare
these releases.
The final 2 tracks are “Rapture” and
“Dirt & Sky”; “Dirt &
Sky” is a slower paced sinister track groovy
as hell as well where as “Rapture”
is heavy, groovy and extremely catchy, easily
the best all round track as it encompasses who
Ascendance are. I’ve tried to get to this
bit quickly, because the Bonus track has infected
my brain and won’t get out, the band covered
“Larger Than Life” by The Backstreet
Boys and I can say without any shadow of a doubt
its one of the catchiest things I’ve ever
listened to in my life.
I highly recommend people to go and purchase this
from the bands new record label GREYHOUND RECORDS
at http://www.greyhoundrecords.com/ or their FACEBOOK
PAGE.
4.5/5
Review by James Webb
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