Ashes Reign are a melodic metal four-piece band from central Virginia who formed in 2010 when guitarist and lyricist Vinny Carrion met bassist Ryan Neurauter. Vinny took on the vocals in 2017 and after twelve years of hard work to overcome personal and personnel challenges, the band now has a full line and is ready to bring their music to the world.

Mountains Echo is their debut EP and deals with issues such as anxiety, depression, insecurities and relationships. It was released on 05/06/2022 and my only gripe with it is that I haven’t heard of it before now!

The EP has four tracks, totalling 21 minutes and 21 seconds, and with the likes of Trivium, Dream Theater, Killswitch Engage and Bullet For My Valentine shining through, it is easy to hear where the band’s influences lie.

With heavy guitars spouting riffs galore, the solos are immensely executed and really send shivers down your spine. The pounding drums really make your eardrums vibrate and the rhythm section really hold the tracks together.

The vocals are outstanding on this EP, with the singer having a range that covers everything from clean singing to emo screams and death metal growls. He switches from one vocal style to another with ease and his voice really gives the EP character.

With a mix of paces throughout the four tracks, there really is something for everyone on this EP and the listener is always kept engaged with the music. This needs more than one listen through to really hear all it has to offer as the progressive nature of it means there is always something going on.

As a debut EP, this one is absolutely phenomenal and I, for one, cannot wait to hear more from this awesome band.

Fantastic job!

Track Listing:

1 Mountain’s Echoes

2 What Should Be

3 Stand Together

4 Always & Forever

This review is the property of The Metal Asylum