Doom & Gloom From the Tomb

SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE - Ascent

As if a new Rangda album wasn’t enough, Ben Chasny returns this month with a fresh Six Organs of Admittance long player — and it is a motherfucker, indeed. While the electric guitar has always been an integral part of the Six Organs arsenal, I think it’s safe to say that Ascent is Chasny’s most plugged-in effort yet, which is in no small part thanks to the presence of Comets On Fire, who serve as the backing band. It seems Chasny has found his Crazy Horse. Of course, they go way back — Chasny joined the Comets for a while there, and they even tried to make a “Six Organs On Fire” kinda thing a decade ago (you can hear the results of those scrapped sessions here). The Comets have been on hiatus for some time now, but they sound in fine and fighting form on Ascent, providing a distortion-fueled backdrop for Chasny’s lead guitar squall. Things blast off immediately with the bracing “Waswasa,” as Ben and Ethan Miller shred up their fretboards mercilessly. The slow burn “Close To The Sky” offers up brutal lashes of wah pedal mania over a rock solid bassline. And “1,000 Birds” seems to be channeling “Cowgirl In The Sand“‘s two-chord juju. Ascent occasionally takes a break from its upward trajectory with a few mellower numbers (including the quite gorgeous “Your Ghost”) but it’s the loud stuff that makes the biggest impression. Speaking of which, you’re also going to want the just-released Six Organs seven-inch, “Parsons’ Blues,” which features two fiery instrumentals recorded at the Ascension sessions. Up, up and away! 

Download “Waswasa”