SUFFERING HOUR exhibit a power and maturity that exceeds their otherwise short existence. Theirs is a death metal that defies most modern paradigms, safely eluding prevailing trends whilst driving deep into the heart of timeless DEATH METAL art, evoking mysticism as surely as molten crush, songwriting class as surely as hideous chaos, with a serpentine flow like no other.

As a title, In Passing Ascension is thus apt. There’s something elusively transcendent about the sonic wormholes SUFFERING HOUR create here, something that sounds plucked effortlessly from the ether whilst being grounded in the dirt and grime and filth of the earth – and, surely, the foundation of death metal itself. It’s a sensation of floating across suspended terra firma, as paradoxical as that may read on paper. For verily, SUFFERING HOUR have mastered the art of extremes: melodicism vs. miasma, space vs. swarm, tech vs. hypnosis, osmosis vs. disintegration, death metal as art vs. death metal as death metal.

In Passing Ascension therefore is an experience in and of itself, a virtual world in which to roam (and perhaps get lost). With suitable (and suitably stirring) cover art created by Witchrist’s Alexander Brown, In Passing Ascension shall soon be hailed as one of 2017’s mightiest death metal debuts.