The term “transcendent” immediately comes to mind upon finishing Ascension, the debut LP from Ceremony Shadows. As a whole, the record sounds gorgeous and is the kind of album that gets better and better with every listen. Friends looking for the first great Darkwave release of 2025 can look no further! There’s a reason why we’ve been championing this release for quite some time and we’re beyond delighted for music fans to finally hear why.
“Light Like Stars” is how you start an album! A feeling of importance and also one of growing concern permeates throughout this beginning anthem with pulsating beats from Timo piercing the quiet before Anastasia’s spoken word delivery, akin to Madonna’s iconic “Vogue” performance but bathed in blacklight, begins. What the Material Girl doesn’t have, though, is back up of the Jakub variety who offers the perfect pointed counterpoint to Anastasia’s slithering soliloquies.
Single “Resistance” was a stand out track of 2024 and since then the Portland-based Electronic trio has done little to dissuade from the fact that their star is indeed on the rise, with this one being the start amidst its’ hypnotic loops and beats as the Jakub/Anastasia vocal sparring becomes reminiscent of Ladytron or X Marks The Pedwalk. With Anastasia’s hushed, seething refrains of “I’m not hiding”, “Impetus” arrives bringing about a different kind of energy and some new musical flavors as a Hip-Hop-like flow in the cadence becomes prevalent until Jakub enters with a particularly powerful vocal pounce that, against type, is downright foreboding and almost like Vincent Price’s famed delivery in “Thriller”… but without the camp.
The first 2025 offering from CS, “Reclaim” flows out of “Impetus” like a butterfly emerging from chrysalis but in a decidedly different tone and one that’s ethereal yet eerie at the same time. Timo’s programming is seemingly tailor made for the clubs, whether it be a throbbing beastie like “Reclaim” or one sporting tender tomes such as the sounds emanating from “Altars” do, while vocalists Anastasia and Jakub are the vocal Jekyll & Hyde with the former putting out an aura that is constantly engaging and entrancing as the latter is some ungodly combination of Peter Murphy, Nivek Ogre, and The Electric Hellfire Club’s Thomas Thorn all in one.
“Idolatry” really goes for it, stepping out of their comfort zone for a full on thumping dance floor jam with Anastasia, Jakub, and Timo’s respective talents intertwining in this sort of synthetic bliss. “Prey” is haunting and easily could’ve (Or could still) show up in a vampire flick followed by the title track which simmers yet glistens acting as a compelling coda and a Manhunter-esque feel tonally (Think the Shriekback tracks on that soundtrack in particular) accompanied by Annalisa Rose who adds even more texture to a dense, layered Electro offering.
Ascension arrives on March 20th and you can get yer pre-save on right now by heading here. For more from Ceremony Shadows, including where to catch them live in the wild, head to the interwebs and click here or here.