Album of the Month - August 2024: Anciients - 'Beyond the Reach of the Sun'

I listened to more new music in August than I did July but most of the good stuff came right near the end of the month. Mammoth Volume, Delving, and Kungens Män put out some pretty cool stuff. I'll probably end up buying the Mammoth Volume album on CD. However, as you could tell from the title of this post, 'Beyond the Reach of the Sun' by Anciients takes the top spot this month. It's been eight long years since the last Anciients LP, 'Voice of the Void'. Some members have changed but their sound hasn't. If I had to compare them to any band it would be Mastodon. Kinda lazy, sure, but "progressive sludge" applies to both bands and sums it up pretty well. Anciients bring in more death metal vocally but even those times feel less frequent than previous releases. You see what I'm getting at.

I'll admit that I'm better at listening to this type of music than writing about it. I like the long songs with plenty of different parts. I like just how progressive it is. Not too much wandering or music nerd stuff. I like how it feels like there's a story being told (lived?) all the time. I'm awful at lyrics unless I read them so I'm not sure what that story may be. See, I'm terrible. I'll keep trying.



'Beyond the Reach of the Sun' as a phrase sounds cold and dark. Much colder and darker than the musical journey it represents. Personally, I feel more light and warmth coming at me from the headphone speakers. Oh, and this is definitely a headphone record. Definitely. The depth and complexity CANNOT be full realized otherwise. I've listened on my phone speaker, my smart speaker, in two vehicles, and on my headphones and it's not even close. Maybe the vehicles without all the road noise. When the headphones are on and isolating your auditory experience to just the interwoven and dynamic lines tearing through space on "Celestial Tyrant" you'll appreciate how full the void can become. Like you can hear the low hum of background radiation. (Sound is a wave, so is radiation. We don't know what type of being is processing that wave in what type of brain.)

I mentioned the long songs but they aren't too long here. The longest is opener "Forbidden Sanctuary" at a little over eight minutes and there are a few around four minutes. With most being between six and seven minutes Anciients do pack a lot in. Ups, downs, loud, quiet, slow, fast, spacious, oppressive. It is prog metal after all. Hopefully at this point you've hit play on the embedded link and know what I'm talking about. But if you haven't heard it already why are you even here?

I should wrap this up. Funny, as I finish this album closer "In the Absence of Wisdom" gently seeps through my central nervous system and I find myself in fact lacking a great wisdom to impart. Perhaps because instead of giving myself over to the album I've been splitting my focus to try and tell you specifically why you should not split your focus. Take the hour out of your day and dig in. It's really the best way. I know from experience. That's not too long to take you beyond the reach of the Sun. Released August 30, 2024 on Season of Mist Records. For my August 2024 Playlist CLICK THIS SPOTIFY LINK.