2014's Hail Death saw the Empire State shredders expanding their dark horizons, looking to the outer edges of extreme metal for inspiration, and delivering their most adventurous set to date. For their fourth outing,
As Was, the band seem intent on digging further into the inky ether and rawing out even more intrepid fodder with which to mold their myriad horrors, with highlights arriving via the epic opener "On Forgotten Ways," the relentless "Nothing," and the serpentine title cut. Some of the soaring leads, progressive architecture, and occasional detours into clean crooning evoke the icy grandeur of bands like
Dark Tranquillity and
Agalloch, but
Black Anvil exude enough confidence in their creations to render any reference to other artists as mere sonic checkpoints. Multiple D-beat blasts and torrents of explosive riffing add fuel to the pyre as well, with doomy intros and melodically charged forays into sludge and stoner metal also making their way into the cauldron, resulting in a thoroughly enjoyable, yet unavoidably pugilistic, 50 minutes of in-you-face time. [
As Was was also released on LP.] ~ James Christopher Monger