Faded Gold by Ashenheart is inspired by the Elden Ring and it’s not hard to see why. It is as stark and unforgiving as the game itself, but the main difference between Faded Gold and Elden Ring is that it won’t take you a million attempts to complete its journey. In fact, I challenge anyone with a taste for melodic black metal to somehow not be instantly drawn into the vast, sweeping, symphonic landscape that Ashenheart weave across the six tracks on offer here.

It wears it’s Elden Ring influence on its sleeve with lyrics like;

Alone I fight

in madness and decay

The queen’s greatest general

undefeated still

From Starscourge, and;

The Fire Giants fell

Until only one remained

Cursed by the queen

To forever tend the flame

From The Last Lord of Fire, fully establishing its connection to From Software’s near perfect game, and all of this is brought to life by the screaming, tortured vocals of Alex, who embodies the seperate characters they play within each song so well, that you believe that they are feeling every single misery, every hate filled moment that the abandoned, hopeless souls of these stories are going through.

As I’ve alluded to before, I hate to make comparisons to other bands or artists, when doing reviews, but there is something about Alex’s vocals that reminds me of Abbath in all his pomp and glory, and that is no bad thing.

As for the other half of Ashenheart, I’m not quite sure what I can say abour Amanda that would do her justice. Amanda is listed as;

8 String Guitar, Bass, Keys, Drums,Music and Lyrics.

Meaning that Amanda is responsible for everything outside of the vocal parts. Which sounds like a lot and it is. Or at least, it could be.

There have been a lot of solo or double acts, where one person does most of the heavy lifting, throughout the history of black metal and some of them have been very good and a fair few of them have, truth be told, been awful. Yet Amanda not only rises to the challenge but surpasses expectations. Black metal history is full of one-person or duo projects, many of which have been forgettable, but Ashenheart stands out as an exceptional example.

Amanda’s mastery of multiple instruments and her ability to craft some of the finest melodic black metal compositions in recent memory is nothing short of awe-inspiring. Her work on Faded Gold feels almost unfair—like it should be illegal in 40 states. It’s that good, and frankly, it makes me a little envious.

Faded Gold by Ashenheart is a fantastic piece of work and a late entrant to my album of the year list. It’s perfect for fans of the Elden Ring series, it’s perfect for fans of melodic black metal, hell, it’s perfect for your mate Trevor’s Uncle Dan and I have no doubt it would go great with a nice Chianti and some fava beans. It is, quite simply, a record everyone should own.

You can buy Faded Gold on Ashenheart’s Bandcamp Page.