Master's Ashes How The MIghty Have Fallen Review
Master's Ashes
How the Mighty Have Fallen
Time To Kill Records
2026
The time-honored tradition of "supergroups" is often hit or miss. So is naming your band with one of the most overused words in underground heavy music. The word, you ask? Master. Hell, there's Paul Speckmann's death metal troupe Master, Savage Master, the albums Warmaster (Bolt Thrower), Master Killer (Merauder), you get the idea. The good news here is that Master's Ashes absolutely stomp out both my preconceived notions above with the scathing, visceral crawl of their debut full-length, How the Mighty Have Fallen.
First, let's just get this lineup outta the way. It's a who's who of legendary players from legendary bands. The ranks of MA include Eric Forrest (vocals/Voivod), Afzaal Deen (guitars/keyboards), Fred Waring (drums/Crisis), Dan Kaufman (guitars/DestroyJudas, Dystopia, Mindrot), Jeff Golden (bass/Six Feet Under, Crowbar), and Katy Crimson (keyboards/The Convalescence), so those names alone would already be pretty awesome. However, what Master's Ashes do incredibly effectively here is manage to create something that bears no resemblance to their current or former bands.
The production here (by Ryan Boesch and Afzaal Deen) is best described as somewhat cold and raw, not unlike many black metal records. Despite the impending doom of the sonics, everybody gets their chance to be present in the mix, and everything sounds nice and even across the board. Master's Ashes' sound is equal parts crust, doom, sludge, drone, and early '90s heavy alternative metal. The tempos never get too speedy but are just as intense as the faster, brutal stuff, due in part to Forrest's angst-ridden yet anguished shouts/screams, which toe the line between hardcore and blackened highs, amidst some spoken passages as well. The band behind him grooves, plods, and just crushes with single-minded dirge, keyboard-soaked interludes, and downtuned chugging. Standout cuts are the dissonant yet rocking "Divert the Conflict III," the Acid Bath-esque doom of "The Deceptive Cadence," and the pure anger of the mid-tempo "How the Mighty Have Fallen." This is mind-bending metal that retains just enough catchy riffing to avoid being too spacey and left of center. Master's Ashes are daring to be different in today's landscape not only in their songwriting but also with their overall mantra. No masters, no gods, only their fervent resistance. If atmospheric dread were a band, then these six humans have delivered the perfect apocalyptic audio experience...
~TB
RIYL: Crisis, Dystopia, Acid Bath, early Neurosis, Buzz-oven, EyeHateGod, Unsane