ascend is a new collaborative musical project between gentry densley (iceburn, eagle twin) and greg anderson (sunn0))), goatsnake, engine kid). 'ample fire within' features guest appearances from kim thayil (soundgarden), bubba dupree (void) and stebmo (earth, sunn0)))). during the 90's anderson's band engine kid toured with and shared a split album with densley's band iceburn. during that time both were heavily experimenting with the fusion of jazz (mahavishnu orchestra, miles davis, john coltrane) and the dark behemoth tones of influences such as the melvins, gore, slint, and caspar brotzman. a return to song-oriented heavy rock, ascend re-visits some of the tones, and moods of their past works as well as travelling into uncharted territory all done with the utmost focus on heaviness and power. of particular note is the vocal performance by gentry densley. his voice is deep and ominous, with a subtle tom waits influence within the growls and gruffness that is emoted.