The Wandering Ascetic
Crimson

The Wandering Ascetic is from Singapore and they are giving us their debut album, and it has a pretty gruesome artwork but also well-made artwork. This and consists of some members of the band Rudra who were pretty well received by us here at Hallowed. Therefore, chances would be good that this album is quite good as well; chances are good but is the album really good? That is a good question and that one I will try to answer in this review text.

Musically we are in the black metal/thrash metal area, they remind me somewhat of Rudra but without the traditional instruments. The riffs are almost hypnotic and the feel slightly dramatic, really strong production is something that strikes me when listening to this album. They are fairly exciting from a creative standpoint, the variation is decent and the singer is rather good for the genre. I would describe this album as a very strong production, and a relatively fresh album.

Crimson is a good album with good songs, if you like bands like Rudra or other similar, somewhat hypnotic bands you will find this album very exciting and very good. I think it somewhat lacks that magical hit song that makes a good album great but it is still a rather enjoyable album to listen to. It is more sophisticated and more interesting than most black metal, they have more depth but I still cannot help but thinking that this album should have been better. That little bit extra is missing and in the end that probably means that for me this album will most likely be forgotten despite them having all the right ingredients to make something magical.

The conclusion will have to be that this album is good, it is probably even worth checking out – especially for those of you enjoying the more sophisticated form of black metal. Crimson may not fully realise the potential of this band but it is still a very good album that promises much, it will be very interesting to see what these guys have to offer in the future.

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