The world of death/doom is something that, like every style of music, is constantly expanding, but if you’ve known me for the past year you know that I’ve had a hell of a trip with the style with that train going on continuously to this day. Case and point, Ashes of Life whose debut album brings plenty of what’s made the style great to the surface while shaking things up a bit to make it a little more interesting.

Any album, particularly a debut, is a great excuse for a band to want to try something different in order to differentiate themselves from the greater scene and to prove to a theoretically wide audience that they’re far from another cookie-cutter band to add to the monsoon of others. Just looking at the cover art for Ashes of Life’s debut full-length, “Seasons Within”, makes me feel like I’m going to hear some casual death/doom that doesn’t bring anything new to the table but still holds its own very nicely. Bringing in different elements that effortlessly range from post-rock to progressive metal to shoegaze, there is loads of intrigue happening within the confines of “Seasons Within” such that each track has an amazingly unique flavor to them that always keep you guessing but Ashes of Life never stride too far from their core of death/doom that’s ever-present in all of its magnificence that wraps around everything virtually without flaw. It all flows into one another such that Ashes of Life makes it work amazingly to really make their debut something to behold for more than just fans of death/doom as it has so much more appeal than just that one style, and there’s no denying that by the end of “Seasons Within” we were treated to much more than our typical death/doom record that could easily go either way.

This is absolutely a work that Ashes of Life should be proud of in every capacity, and I know for a fact that if this is just the beginning of what they’re to bring our way then they’re capable of so much more. Every inch of this album has something to eat right up in satisfaction, and “Seasons Within” has more and more delicious secrets to discover with each listen.

LISTEN to “Seasons Within” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Ashes of Life on Facebook here.