Published: August 6, 2023

It has been more than five years since the groundbreaking double album ‘The Great Adjudication’. Australia’s Claret Ash creates so much more than just epic atmospheric, melodic black metal. Their grand concepts of awakening are all interwoven into the ‘’WorldTorn’’ sequence.

Consisting of both new material and reinterpreted work, Anemoia is its own unique journey.  There is the excellent re-recording of ‘Ground Dweller’ from the debut album of the same name, mere statistics against a song that continues to evolve with a combination of excellent riffing and its brief interludes that builds towards a huge crescendo.  There is a re-interpretation of ‘’The Wolves Have Fed Again’’ from album number two: multiple vocals layers and beautiful acoustic guitars.

‘Cascadence of the Twilight’ is a new song that receives two interpretations. The nearly eight-minute masterwork is all fury, sound, and evolution. Pursuing the limits of black metal against the urgency of the track and James ‘vocals before stepping back from the abyss before hurling headlong into a furious conclusion. The Orchestral version is its polar opposite, stunningly beautiful, able to transport the existing into new dimensions, reeking nostalgia and aching melancholy.

An incredible personal experience recording collapse, resiliency, and symbiosis Claret Ash has created a multidimensional masterwork that is both harrowing and wonderful. Beautifully constructed yet harrowingly dark, it pulses with darkened energy and moments of light, turbulent yet eerily calm. Melodic Black metal is merely the gateway into the Claret Ash experience, seamlessly interweaving the extreme into new territories.