Ashen Mortality
Birmingham, United Kingdom7 reviews across 4 releases
Ashen Mortality was an English doom metal band formed in 1993 by Ian Arkley after Seventh Angel, with a female vocalist and keyboard player at its core. The first demo, Ashen Mortality, presented three brutal songs built from slow doom weight, a speed-metal guitar crunch, and occasional bursts of speed. Separation extended the approach into long compositions with sharp changes, dark organ, and female vocals, while the independent release kept the project close to demo culture. On Sleepless Remorse, issued by Forsaken Records in 1996, death-metal growls were set against an angelic female voice and gothic synthesizer, with medieval color in the arrangements. By Your Caress in 1998, the guitars remained heavy but the death-metal emphasis had eased. Acoustic guitar, cleaner singing, keyboards, and folk material occupied more space.
Neil Shilvock left after the 1997 tour, and George Aytoun took over the drum chair for the recording of Your Caress. The band moved to Weston-super-Mare soon afterward, played locally, and obtained wider distribution for the album through Plastic Head. Activity dwindled in 2000 as plans for a third album faded. Ashen Mortality returned to rehearsal in 2004 with a new rhythm section and played two final shows, including appearances in Norway and the United Kingdom; illness kept bassist Tim Cooper from those performances. The band split in April 2005. Arkley then formed My Silent Wake with Andi Lee and Jasen Whyte, while the two Ashen Mortality albums were reissued in expanded form. Cooper died of leukemia in August 2006.
4 releases reviewed
Ashen Mortality
Separation
Sleepless Remorse
