Stream the Entire New Anciients Record Heart of Oak Right Now!

I haven’t been able to stop listening to Anciients new album Heart of Oak ever since I first laid mouse-click upon it a month or so ago.

I like it so much because of how outside the norm it is for a modern-day metal album; it straddles metal sub-genre lines so completely — from blues rock to black metal to prog to stoner/psych — dipping a toe into all of the above without ever wholly setting foot in any. It’s also not really a proper “metal” record, insomuch as such a thing exists. While album-opener “Raise the Sun” has both screamed vocals and aggressive double-bass, most of the singing on the album is clean, the riffs borrow heavily from bluesy classic-rock, and very few moments are what I think we’d collectively agree to be “brutal” or “aggressive.” Yet there’s something that distinctly and unmistakably, in my opinion at least, makes this a metal record.

Most importantly the songs are catchy, memorable, and expertly crafted. The intro for track 3, “Falling in Line,” with its proggy intro arrangements and hot blues lead guitar licks, reminds me of something that could’ve been on King’s X’s landmark album Dogman… until the verse kicks in with a gargantuan Mastodonian riff. The solo on this track is an all-out shred fest. What’s coming next on this album? Who knows, and when it’s this good who cares.

Stream the album below right now to listen to one of the most dynamic and varied metal records of the year. It’s out now and available for purchase here.