Album Review: Ingested – Where Only Gods May Tread (Unique Leader Records)

Ready to rise from the underground to the wider metal sphere, Ingested’s new album Where Only Gods May Tread is 10 tracks by a band ready to prove they have what it takes to compete at the top of the game.

With more touring miles under their belts than most, Ingested have honed their craft playing alongside the likes of Crowbar, The Black Dahlia Murder, Cannibal Corpse and many more. Now five albums in, their refined songwriting skills, technical precision and all-round ability to decimate come together to create one of the finest heavy albums of 2020.

Dominic Grimard (Ion Dissonance, The Last Felony) handled bass duties on the album and there are special guest appearances from Kirk Windstein (Crowbar, Down), Vincent Bennett (The Acacia Strain) and Matt Honeycutt (Kublai Khan).

Where Only Gods May Tread will be released on August 14th 2020.

It’s been an immense year already for extreme metal. The bar not just reached but sent into the stratosphere by so many bands. So strong has this year’s releases been so far that the expectations of what else may come has risen to seemingly insurmountable heights.

Few will reach those heights but those that do will be remembered. Step forth Ingested and their brand new album, Where Only Gods May Tread. One of, if not the current contender for the best album of the year.

Few would have doubted that it wouldn’t be at least a great album. That’s what Ingested do, put out great music. However, they’ve outdone themselves here.

On every level, this album just amazes. From the guttural depths to the riffing highs and every filthy hook and beat in between, the 10 tracks burn so brightly. It’s an inferno of extreme that turns everything it touches into ashes.

Follow the Deceiver is a roaring, stomping beast of a metal track, No Half Measures turns the ferocity up an extra notch (if that was at all possible), Impending Dominance delivers an early knockout blow with a stop-start thump that you’ll feel right at the back of your head and The List sees Ingested fully transform into their true demonic forms.

Chaotic, so god-damn heavy, so brutally intense and so utterly brilliant.

This before we’ve even reached the tracks that have guests on them (and what guests they are). First up is Vincent Bennett adding some extra fury to the slower-tempo, yet still devastating The Burden of Our Failures. Then Kirk Windstein jumps in on the stunning Another Breath. The mellow and soothing build lasts just long enough to relax the mind. A mistake it would seem as the savagery is just around the corner. Finally the last guest, Matt Honeycutt makes sure to not be outdone by adding a wicked touch of hardcore to Blackpill. This is a track with some seriously dangerous intent.

Hiding amongst that trio is Dead Seraphic Forms, Ingested at their most guttural sounding. Before Forsaken in Desolation and Leap of the Faithless end things. The former is one of the shortest tracks on the album but it certainly isn’t lacking in depth. The riffs are at their meatiest and the drums are outrageously heavy. The latter is the longest track of the bunch at over 9 minutes long!

An outstanding closer, the inferno isn’t waning. In fact, it seems to be getting stronger and all the more consuming. How Ingested are able to sustain the intensity that is within this album closer is something and that’s before you remember this is how they’ve been for the last 40 minutes too.

Extreme metal doesn’t get much better then this.

Ingested – Where Only Gods May Tread Full Track Listing:

1. Follow The Deceiver
2. No Half Measures
3. Impending Dominance
4. The List
5. The Burden Of Our Failures (ft. Vincent Bennett)
6. Dead Seraphic Forms
7. Another Breath (ft. Kirk Windstein)
8. Blackpill (ft. Matt Honeycutt)
9. Forsaken In Desolation
10. Leap Of The Faithless

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