Get all 16 Ashen Horde releases available on Bandcamp and save 15%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Baited Breath (2024 version), Antimony, Archaic Convictions, Black Curse EP, A Semblance of Normalcy (charity single), Tintregen, Fallen Cathedrals, The Alchemist, and 8 more.
1. |
Parity Lost
07:37
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Two houses--unalike in dignity
Conjoined, but still worlds apart
Though from a distance, perceived equality
The symmetry a mere illusion
One revels in extravagance
Affluence borne from les vieux riche
The other dwells in destitution
An endless struggle to survive
The fragile balance, thus far maintained
Is only moments from collapse
A single action, intended or happenstance
Could sever the final thread
Though loathing is so thinly veiled
Inaction maintains the accord
Thus do the two sides remain in artificial harmony
In the illusion of perfection
Humanity fails to survive
Masses enthralled by the deception
Never to make it out alive
In quiet hours, the leering eyes reveal the truth
Each side awaiting the other’s declaration
Each day that passes brings them closer to the brink
The tension ever-growing
Moments left until impending war
In opulence, the wealthy raise a toast to that unearned
A ceremony for the luxury into which they were born
While only steps away, the poor collapse, no celebration
Beyond the victory of surviving yet another day
This duality can only result in catastrophe
Blinded by arrogance, the wealthy see no consequence
For as they indulge, they siphon off more than is theirs
The balance broken, one side is drained to feed the other
The shadow cast becomes an all-consuming truth
Two houses--hatred has taken hold
A final loss of parity
In the delusion of perfection
Damnation will too soon arrive
We’ve fallen prey to the deception
We’ll never make it out alive
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2. |
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We are afflicted, unworthy of conscious thought
Our hopes they wish to extinguish
In but a moment our world is swallowed by shadows
While they thrive in the light
Euphoric screams, soon to be drowned in agony
Within the silence, spewing animosity
Our voices will be heard
Gathering our strength, we no longer feel restraint
From darkness we will rise
Hostility; declension turns to victory
Our former adversaries become our new allies
United, we arise
For as the light was taken, so were the rules of peace
Their downfall they’ve demanded
Too long we’ve been the victims
Crushed beneath their excess
Deaf to our acrimony
Nevermore unnoticed
From deep within the mire
We will draw our power
Our hearts so deeply blackened
Beating pure ichor
Our strength will be their weakness
Unified in hatred
With faith at our disposal
Praise the insurrection
Our judgment will be final
Overwhelming vengeance
Atop the world we’ll stand
Witness our ascension
We will reclaim the world they’ve taken from beneath
The waning moon, arisen, serves as a flare of hope
A beacon for our vengeance
For those that we are haunting, it will be a grim pharos
Illuminating their defeat
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3. |
Retaliation/Regret
04:45
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Like undead soldiers, craving living flesh
The small rebellion presses forward
Towards the gleaming towers
Dominating the bleak horizon
Blinded by fury, vengeance their ammunition
A strategy to inflict brutality
On those they know
To be the cause of their suffering
Approaching demarcation
Invisible, but still it’s seen as a reminder of their inferiority
The symbolic-border crossing
A violation that breaks down the trust established
As pent-up rage grows stronger
The old world crumbles into dust
A field of descendants whom they hate
Seen only as targets, planted as bait
The slaughter is rapid, the terror unbound
Light fades from their eyes as screams echo ‘round
Consumed by their hatred, a wave of depravity
Banished any sense or semblance of morality
This is retaliation, the horror of scorn
The blood beneath their fingernails will stain forevermore
They gaze downward upon the corpses
Seen forthwith as human
A realization settles in; they flee for safety
Their hands are stained
Deeds they wish to be unspoken
As regret slowly cripples,
Their unity is torn away
A new desire that this will remain unspoken
Their blood has forever stained a blight upon my hands
For this is the cycle of retaliation and regret
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4. |
The Vanishing
04:36
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Their ivory tower shattered,
Forced into awareness
The leisure class rudely awakened
No longer will they mock those
That fortune ignored
War gives no preference to affluence
A strategy constructed to show their dominance
Forsaking ferocity… or so they tell themselves
Concealed within the shadows
They slink across the edge
Seeking those most defenseless
Innocents: the prime hostages
Their vile task completed, a rapid exit made
They revel in their acquisitions
When daylight slays the dark,
The deed will be revealed
And they’ll regain the upper hand
Seeking negotiation, this act the cornerstone
Though it may crumble quickly,
And all will be brought down
\When morning greets the victims
They find what has been filched
Grim fears no longer imagined
This war has now begun
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5. |
Atavism
03:55
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Resurgence!
Our battle cry
Calling forth our primitive souls
Decorum
Is cast away Insurgence!
We will arise
As the beasts you’ve claimed us to be
No longer
Denying the urge
Embracing our lost savagery
We are the voice of devolution
Convergence!
We have become
A single, malicious machine
Remorseless
Our vengeance unleashed
Violence: our new identity
Devouring everything you cherish
Discard your shreds of sanity
Witness the world around you perish
Predation has awoken
We will be the last to stand
Your end, our delectation
Full subjugation we demand!
Embracing our lost savagery
We are the voice of devolution
The end of false nobility
This is the fatal revolution
Time to reset the balance
Inversion of the stratum
They’ll be the ones who kneel
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6. |
Cages
05:07
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Knowing not if they are forsaken
They wait in misery
Victims culled for innocence
But then a sound heard in the distance
Silencing their cries Is this salvation a lie?
Secured in a makeshift prison
The victims on display
In cages, crude and filthy
A gruesome mockery
Sentries fall into formation
Like wolves guarding their feast
Fuck the hopes of liberation
They will tear apart the beasts
If it is war that is desired
Then all involved will acquiesce
The prisoners will become fodder
An example for those who aggress
In silence,
The factions, like statues, stand
On the surface
Salivating carnivores
Both sides hunters, both sides prey
But few truly desire
This final descent into madness
In exchange for those held captive
A demand of sacrifice
He who leads the invasion
Will submit to their device
With but a moments’ consideration
A figure steps from the mass
An oblation to the god of war
With hopes that this hell will pass
True to the promises made
The captives are freed from their pens
While a soon-to-be-dead martyr
Enters the cage that will be his end
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7. |
Final Ascent
04:54
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Moments to final exhalation
He seeks the comfort of his memories
Seen through the haze that is his vision
A shadowed figure provides liberation
A moment’s contemplation
To leave this hell behind
No!
They have freed their destroyer
“I will become death’s disciple
No remorse will taint my wrath
A kindness has unleashed their ruin”
With freedom now regained
A revelation floods his mind
Deep inside the domain of his enemy
Vengeance will be delivered from within
“I will be the one who ensnares the oppressor
Who demands the penitence my kin deserve
For what has befallen us in recent days
And for all of the suffering that came before”
To bring down the beast he must remove the head
Find the lone creator, the architect of discord
For it’s he who must be forced to pay for his sins
The source of their damnation,
His demise will end the divide
In the distance, his target seen
A monolithic tower Inside the tyrant dwells
“I will traverse the gauntlet
Let nothing thwart my task
In moments, in his blood I’ll bask.”
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8. |
Face of the Enmity
07:13
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Armed with only a lust for vengeance,
The infiltrator weaves his way through shadowed alleys
The lavish dwellings that provide cover
Serve also to remind him of what he lacks
At the monoliths’ edge lies a clearing
Beyond which stands the structure he has sought
Behind the façade of marble and glass
Sits the one who has orchestrated this war
Though human in appearance, he is little more than beast
Feeding on the grief of those all around him
Thriving on the agony his construct has created
Nurturing the collapse for his own delectation
Already a flesh-bound god Immune to life’s cruel fates
Far beyond paltry, crude defenses
In silence he sits, his eyes transfixed
Focused on the distant violence
Elated that his work has produced such elegant chaos
For this is the score he so carefully composed
A symphony of primitive hatred
A slow crescendo building to a deafening roar
The assailant watches as his target basks
In the euphoric state this hell has delivered
Pure, orgasmic joy spawned by crippling agony
Only reinforcing that the deed must be done
But now the time has finally arrived
The suffering from many will move to one
As a single point of focused hatred
He will collapse this pillar of sorrow
No moments wasted on reluctance or regret
The fates have chosen their sacrificial savior
Slinking down to the cellar, far below the tainted earth
He places the charges, without sympathy or qualms
A swift exit, in moments to safety he flees
As his hand pulls the trigger, eradicating the disease
Silence cracked by deafening thunder
He collapses, victorious
The final cathedral falls to dust
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Ashen Horde Los Angeles, California
Drawing influence from the crème de la extreme, Ashen Horde celebrates the extreme side of metal
in all its grim
glory. Inspired by bands ranging from Emperor to Opeth, and Enslaved to Strapping
Young Lad, Ashen Horde refuses to be bound by genre, instead embracing elements from across the extreme metal spectrum.
Contact:
ashenhorde@outlook.com
ashenhorde.bandcamp.com
facebook.com/ashenhorde
... more
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Can't wait for this record. The debut was stellar, and I expect this one will be, too. Atmospheric black metal from Iceland.
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While all their albums are great, this is my most played
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Ridiculous, technical grindcore.
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