Once you start to delve into it's depths you'll find it hard to escape its pull.

Ashent, an Italian group put together by brothers Gianpaolo and Onofrio Falanga started life as a thrash/prog act in early 2001. The vision of the two men was to form a band that wrote and recorded music that evolved, grew and never stood still or stagnated, saying they wanted to push the boundaries of what could be done with their music. Working hard for the first couple of years, honing their song writing and playing skills, the brothers finally got around to recording their music in 2003, when the band released their first demo CD simply called Ashent, which soon saw them become the darlings of the rock media, gaining plaudits far and wide across Europe for their complex and absorbing music.

Following some line-up changes the band set about recording their debut album ‘Flaws Of Elation’, then in 2008 they returned to the studio for sophomore release ‘Deconstructive’. Now Ashent return with their most ambitious release so far, album number three entitled ‘Inheritence’. The new album however, has something that always seems to plague bands these days, some more of those dreaded line-up changes. Gone are the old keyboard player, guitarist and singer and in their place, we have Gilles Boscolo, Alessandro Cusso and former Time Machine, DGM member Titta Tani. Now with all these changes and new additions, I wasn’t sure if Ashent could pull off another great album - but I’m glad to say with ‘Inheritence’ they have.

The music then is a complex, sweeping, grandiose and extravagant take on melodic progressive metal which sees Ashent using many different kinds of instruments to enhance the sound on this album. Here and there you will find, everything from Hammond organs and mellotrons, to saxophones and violins, which help set the atmosphere and musical landscape that Ashent are trying to paint. Therefore tracks like ‘La Danzatrice Scalza’, ‘The Defiant Boundary’, ‘Fractual’ and ‘Shipwrecked Affair’ are just what any lover of prog could want. The addition of Tani to the bands musical mix, also seems to have inspired the song writing within the group and they seem to have rediscovered the fire that I thought had somewhat been watered down somewhat on ‘Deconstructive’.

If you are fans of albums that take their time to unfold and only give up their charms slowly, making you want to return to them over and over and again, so that like Indiana Jones you can discover the secrets within, why not give Ashent’s ‘Inheritence’ a listen because once you start to delve into it’s depths you’ll – no doubt like me - find it hard to escape its pull.

Ian Johnson