FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Music

PREMIERE: Ash of Cedars Stake a Claim on Arkansas's Black Metal Crown With "Sun Invert"

Listen to a chilling new track from this Southern black metal supergroup (with members of Vore, Snakedriver, Epoch of Unlight and Rwake).

Ash of Cedars is brand-new, so new that they don't have any vinyl out, or upcoming tourdates; they've not got much of a social media presence, or even a promo photo. They've come bubbling up out of the Arkansas heat—and as luck would have it, have landed smack dab in the middle of Canadian label Handshake Inc's eclectic roster ahead of their first effort, a forthcoming self-titled cassette and digital release.

Advertisement

Though the band itself is still metaphorically slick with afterbirth, the tortured souls behind it are worn and weary veterans—members of Vore, Snakedriver, Epoch of Unlight and Rwake convene herein, and the result is as dark, heavy, and hypnotic. It's grim in every sense of the word, too: harsh, unrelenting, and cold, dependent on furious tremolo and rickety howls.

Ash of Cedars describe their sound as having "one foot in a Faulkner novel, the other in old Weakling and Darkthrone records," and if you can think of anything bleaker than that, well, my email address is easy to find. Steep yourself in Southern Gothic horror courtesy of "Sun Invert," and get your hands on this bad boy right here.