Ancient Ascendant are:
Alex Butler (AB): Vocals/ guitar
Alan Webb (AW): Bass
Dave Moulding (DM): Drums
Nariman Poushin (NP): Guitar

Reading based quartet Ancient Ascendant are one of the hottest death metal bands to come out of the UK in recent years. Having just released their latest EP 'The Bleak Slumber', and new album 'The Grim Awakening' on the horizon for 2011, Michael Wilson decided to take the opportunity to speak with the metallers, just before their Halloween gig, on the death metal scene, zombies, illegal downloads and much more.

For those who aren't familiar with Ancient Ascendant can you please explain who you are and how you emerged onto the death metal scene?

AB: We're four men who got together to create an interesting heavy sound to headbang to. We're a live sounding band, trying to make a mark amongst a lot of boring stuff!

NP: Webb, Alex and Dave all played together and I joined after Chaos Incarcerated disbanded. I met the guys in Chaos Incarcerated by going to university, so that's how I got to know the guys in Ancient Ascendant. I filled in for a couple of gigs and was then asked to join as a permanent member. I am not from 'round 'ere (the guys in Chaos Inc and Ancient Ascendant being old time friends).

AB: Points for Chaos Inc stirring even a scant memory within you.

NP: [Laughs] I had to record some really hard riffs for them!

AB: They were not well known, but they were great!

NP: They gave rise to Ancient Ascendant and Xerath really, so worth mentioning.

When listening to your first EP 'The Heathen Throne' there are a lot of musical influences that come through, particularly from the Stockholm death metal scene, can you talk us through your biggest influences on the EP and the Ancient Ascendant sound?

DM: For the EP definitely Opeth and Carcass.

AB: We draw, like many bands, influence from a whole range of acts. But Ancient Ascendant is about refining the sound down to a deathy groove, and trying to keep it interesting on the Nth listen.
Certainly Death, Emperor, Decapitated, and the two Dave said.

You said that you're trying to make a mark amongst a lot of boring stuff. This echoes something that you wrote on your MySpace page about too many bands placing style over substance. What are you doing to reverse this trend with your own music?

NP: Well I think it's taking Death Metal back to a stage where songwriting and riff-writing takes precedence over how 'brutal' it is or how many 'metric beat-downs per bar' you have on average. It's about extremity and heaviness coming from contrast, you can tune as low as you want, and you can blast as much as you want, but that won't necessarily make you good.

DM: I think that we all have the same "let's not create something and say that'll do" attitude and so when we write, if the songs go down well with each other then they seem to fit that idea.

AB: I doubt we'll reverse any trend, and we're not trying to do that really, but when the fads wash away, as they all do, it's the quality that remains.

This is what we're shooting for, music that can be appreciated years later - when all the fringes are long forgotten.

In terms of the lyrical content Ancient Ascendant are described as anti-religion and encouraging inner strength. Do you think that the subject matter of death metal lyrics is important and intrinsic to what it is to be a death metal band?

NP: To be fair, I am not sure that WE described it as that, but it seems like Tartarean Desire does, where does that come from? Besides, all our songs are about 'bitches and money', everyone knows that.

AW: I think it says that on Encylopaedia Metallum...also we have a song about zombies...

AB: 'The Heathen Throne' did indeed revolve around inner strength and anti-materialism and we're a bunch of atheists, but I don't bother writing about that really. We metal fans have probably heard the sermon by now!

AW: Indeed, the anti-religion card has been played to death

DM: Lyrics are whatever you perceive them to be anyway.

NP: Yeah this is true. I guess we want more evocative lyrics that fit the music. Messages in music are crap anyway, everyone is there for the riffs - otherwise you are a dirty hippy!

AB: Overall it's important to note that our outlook is: music is much more important than lyrics. I do try to make them interesting, but I haven't got a 'message' for people. Of course musicians are the people you want life advice from...

AW: Even then, it's all down to what Alex comes up with - he's the sole wordsmith, usually written on a strict time scale of an afternoon.

AB: All great writers work quickly.

You have a Halloween gig coming up and then subsequent dates next month in Winchester and Reading. Are you going to be showcasing a lot of the newer material at these gigs?

AB: Very much so!

NP: Yes, we are only playing one 'old' song - the rest is all new.

AW:  One song we've never played before!

AB: We're a largely unknown band, so not burdened by must play songs, or fans, or money....

AW: Yeah, we don't have a hit just yet.

Earlier this week you put 'Ravenous Undead of the Dead' up on MySpace, a track about zombies taken from the forthcoming album 'The Grim Awakening'. I was wondering who was responsible for the zombie sounds at the start of the track? I thought it worked really well, very Romero-esque.

NP: It's the good and the great of the UK metal scene right?

AW: That was purely Dave.

NP: In one take, no layers (horrendous hangover). Nah it was a whole bunch of us, piled in the studio making noises.

AW: It was a 'who can make the other guys laugh the hardest' contest.

AB: This was the best bit of recording, getting Xerath guys, Despicable Individuals, and more than a few friends to put forward their renditions of undead hunger. It's absolutely serious, we don't smile during it.

How does the sound on 'The Grim Awakening' differ from 'The Heathen Throne'?

NP: Better songwriting, better riffs, better all around

AB: We've tried to make 'The Grim Awakening' more effective in all the areas we hold dear, but I'll leave the rest to the reviewers.

Did the recording and mixing process take part at the Xerath studio as with the original? What were the high and low points of the writing and recording process (excluding the aforementioned zombie noises of course)?

NP: First things first, it's the Ancient Ascendant studio. Well I own all of it - so it's mine.

DM: The low point was definitely having to be so close to Richard Thomson (Xerath frontman).

NP: Low points? There were so many, it was like pulling teeth, since everyone was in different locations and coming in and doing things individually.

DM: The endless button pressing and, "ok THIS is the final mix yeah."

AB: But yeah, we had the ups and downs. The everything-takes-longer-than-you-think thing going for too many months.

NP: Yeah, that's the nail on the head. It's all worth it in the end though. Hard to see that when you are re-recording the same song for the third time though ... or the DI box fails ... or the re-amp track not being in -0db ...

AB: Or the fucking backwards mic! I recorded half the album into a backwards microphone - not quite as stupid as you're imagining.

How was playing alongside Bolt Thrower?

DM: It was pretty amazing, we haven't played a gig that size before and being picked by the band themselves made it pretty special - you could say it gave us the hunger. A hunger not to play small gigs - but we don't have the legions of fans to not play small gigs, just yet.

AB: If there's a load of people who want to listen to some death, it's always a great gig.

AW: That's true, a packed out gig is amazing, no matter what the size.

Speaking of your fanbase, what are you doing to market yourselves and spread awareness of Ancient Ascendant? I understand that you're currently seeking a record deal, how are negotiations progressing with this?

AB: Everything we can do! Word of mouth is the greatest help to us.

AW: We're currently making a great effort to get our online presence up.

AB: Talking to labels is like a cross between talking at a brick wall, a pat on the back, and a sore arse...

NP: Very apt! See, that's why he writes the lyrics.

AW: He's the brains of the outfit.

AB: Our movement is growing though, people are paying more attention and our merch stocks are trickling away - to be fair you can't really have three things in a cross, it's a Xerath cross of things I guess.

In terms of the online music community, there's been a lot over the years revolving around illegal downloading and how it damages the music industry. Do you think this is a problem within the metal community or do you think the benefits outweigh the pitfalls?

AB: Hard to say overall, but for us - we want people to hear our music!

DM: It's quite amusing that when you type 'Ancient Ascendant' into Google, half the sites that come up are torrents...

AB: Piracy is a sort-of sign of success, or at least demand. We just try and make our stuff good enough to buy.

NP: We did get one really good review from a guy that Torrented the EP...so it's not all bad. We're never going to make money out of it in the real sense, but it'd be nice if they at least spread the word.

AW: Exactly, the word needs spreading before we can expect people to hand out their hard earned cash all the time.

AB: So you torrent the album, then a couple of months down the line you're still listening to it and think "I'll pick this up." Hopefully some guys are thinking that!

AW: Yeah, that's what nice honest people do.

Speaking of making money, how do you guys manage to balance full time jobs around your commitment to Ancient Ascendant?

AW: Well, Alex is new to this. He was full time Ancient Ascendant for quite a while - dedicated to the cause.

AB: We balance it by making Ancient Ascendant pretty fucking important to us!

AW: All free time has a tinge of Ancient Ascendant to it - to me at least!

AB: It's not a weekend hobby, we have real ambitions to fulfill, but of course you can't take things too seriously.

NP: My job is totally dispensable pending any Ancient Ascendant activity. Hell I wouldn't even be in England if it wasn't for Ancient Ascendant.

DM: All your riches mean nothing compared to Ancient Ascendant!

NP: That's just the truth, it's 100% for me, but there is no point in not earning if you aren't touring so you gotta be smart about it.

Are you in negotiations to play any festivals next year?

NP: Well we are in the process of sending out a promo pack to all the festivals that host death metal bands but hopefully we'll have a label for next year's festival season.

'The Heathen Throne' EP artwork is really something to be admired; it has a certain English morbid beauty quality to it. What was it that inspired the artwork and can we expect something similar for 'The Grim Awakening'?

NP: Well that's all thanks to a friend of ours called Lindsay Noble. She did a fantastic job on it.

AW: It was Alex's brain child!

AB: We do love Lindsay's excellent and grim graveyard rendition. We're still drawing together ideas for Grim. Webb did put together a great volcano cover for our new EP 'The Bleak Slumber'.

Making a rather tenuous link between art and a series of unsettling photographs that emerged on the internet recently featuring Dave and Nariman, I thought it would be appropriate to talk about side projects and The Despicable Individuals. How does this side project and any others that you have going fit into the Ancient Ascendant schedule?

NP: Well there are at least another two, one of which is serious I guess (Navigator).
They are side projects, simple as, time is made for them during Ancient Ascendant down time, as it is for all the members, we aren't members in any project that is someone else's main effort.

AW: It's quite a lot of effort juggling all the things I want to do, that's all I need to say.

Going forward - what are your aspirations for the next five years?

DM: Headline Wacken, play the space station festival, take over the universe right?

NP: We'd like to get to a stage where we are touring more than we are at home - that's the aim. We want to live on the road

Thank you very much for taking your time out from Ancient Ascendant to have this interview, do you want to finish by telling people why they should check out Ancient Ascendant and see you at one of your gigs this month?

AB: Come see us if you relish a sore neck, a sweaty crack, and lighter wallet!

AW: If you want to see some slick and professional death metal, then look elsewhere [laughs] no, not really, we're amazing, come see us, check us out online, buy our shit, make your mind up, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Thank you to Ancient Ascendant for taking the time out of their busy schedule to talk about all things death metal and much more. If you're interested in seeing Ancient Ascendant live check them out on one of their two remaining confirmed dates:

Nov. 9, The Railway Inn, Winchester
Nov. 27, The Butler, Reading

For more information regarding Ancient Ascendant please check out their MySpace.