Ancestors – Suspended in Reflections

It’ll leave you suspended, for sure

There’s something relieving about the idea of release. Be it sexual, emotional or physical, each person on Earth has found themselves unfettered in some way or another. It’s likely those who heard Ancestors’ last album In Dreams and Time experienced this, finding themselves caught in their web of emotive proggish doom metal, with bits of sweeping post-rock to aid in the atmospheric components of it all. Their latest record Suspended in Reflections shows the band focusing almost entirely on the buildup of emotions, allowing for a slow and deliberate unleashing that, for some, may take a few listens to actually realize.

That’s because instead of wholly coming right out of the gates with a beating resonant doom, Suspended in Reflections takes the ostentatious route. “Gone” does have that heaviness—it starts with it—but its harmonies reverberate off the walls of layered riffs. It goes into “Through a Window” smoothly, the song itself like a mountain. A calm introduces what leads to a colossal peak, where sentiment and extensive instrumentation drive it home.

“Into the Fall” and “Release” work the best together, where the cinematic violins add even more softness to the somber elegiac manner in the former, yet swaths of organs and strings bring an eeriness to it that suddenly throws a jazz-like bass solo in the midst. It’s the actual aural manifestation of a release, before returning back to its fairly calmer stasis.

While there is a lot of feeling confined within this album’s 36 minutes, it may take a few tries for some to realize more than others. One the first couple of run-throughs, Suspended in Reflections’ mellowness overrides all the bits that make it so epic. For true appreciation to grow, an intentional look into the intricacies of each track reaps the most optimum results. There’s heaviness around the turns and in the corners of the album, but much like emotions themselves, it may take a little extra effort to discern.