Vodun - Ascend (2018)

Take a look outside your window: shitt's getting serious. We're living through a particularly bleak paradigm, with ominous political shifts occurring around the globe. It's time for a rallying war-cry, to tap into the power of our ancestors, to learn the wisdoms taught by history and its recurring patterns. It's time to acknowledge the power of women, to burn with the fire of a banshee wail, to taste the energy of revolution and feel the inspiration of generations of resistance. And that's where ASCEND, the second album by insurrectionary heavy rock trio Vodun, comes in. 10 slabs of ground-flattening, groove-inflected rock power, driven by the afro-inspired dervish drums of Zel Kaute (interpreting the spirits of Ogoun), the roaring, fierce chromium guitars of Linz Hamilton (The Marassa), and fronted by the fire-breathing howl of frontwoman Chantal Brown (Oya), delivering you the truth of generations with a drive and focus that can't be matched. ASCEND builds upon the foundations laid down by the London-based group's 2016 debut, Possession. 'On Possession, we'd just written our first bunch of songs as a band and wanted to make a record' says Chantal. 'We recorded our first album at leisure when all the songs were ready. We knew that we couldn't leave too much time for putting out a second album, so there was more pressure with album number two. Our new guitarist Linz (The Marassa) has definitely helped us out in terms of filling out our sonic attack and helped bring more of those stomping rock moments, blazing thrash sections & thicker riffs. Lyrically, I wanted to connect with what is happening in the world right now and highlight that sense of deja-vu and pay homage to the ancestry of resistance, as history seems to be repeating itself. Zel (Ogoun) spent hours crafting the drum parts and researching the different tribes and regions each beat comes from, and obsessively listening to Afrobeat records to pull out anything from a rhythm to a horn phrasing for inspiration (You've probably never heard more cowbell on a heavy rock record since Led Zeppelin). Everything was more thought out for this second album and meticulously crafted we even gave ourselves more time in the studio! 5 days rather than the 3 we had for Possession.' The music of ASCEND is more sophisticated than on Possession, the canvas broader, the details more vivid and varied. Their palette now embraces a healthy does of extra percussion, saxophone, and vocal arrangements that pair Chantal's behemoth holler with harmonies, chants and howls, a full-spectrum of sound that suits their polymorphous attack. The band also incorporated another lead voice on the song 'New Doom', which was kindly provided by Chris Georgidias from the band Turbowolf. Another theme of Ascend is that of femininity as strength, and the power of empathy, a concept played out clearest on 'Started From', an anthem celebrating warrior womanhood and preaching that softness is not a weakness displaying the killer blend of hard rock power and complex nuance that makes Vodun unique. And Ascend is, unabashedly, revolution music, its ten tracks a hurricane of mystic heaviness, spiritual soul and furious positivity, its colossal riffage & rhythms allied to inspirational lyrics and powerful melodies to deliver food for the soul and fire to inflame uprisings.