Three years since their debut album, progressive power metal act ASCENDANCY from Vsetin returns with a conceptual piece The Amazing Ascendancy Versus Count Illuminatus.

While Out Of Knowhere took into the far reaches of space, its successor puts us squarely on the ground, straight into the epicenter of a conflict between the sinister Count Illuminatus, who got so fed up with humanity that he decided to architect his own utopic civilization and annihilate the current one, just to be on the safe side, and a group of heroes called The Amazing Ascendancy, whose goal is conversely to stop Count’s design from fruition. On the scope of 13 songs, such an epic storyline is played out, one that features not only the confrontation itself, but also explores what makes one to become such an enemy of mankind as is Count Illuminatus himself. Although you will find here no dragons and unicorns, the music of Ascendancy stays true to its power metal focus, enriched with progressive elements, which translates to elaborate guitar solos, orchestral passages, plenty of melodic lines and crystal clear vocals.

The album was recorded in the Vsetín-based MetalGate Studio, under the supervision of Libor Kukula, who is simultaneously the guitarist and founder of Ascendancy. The album artwork was produced by an acclaimed Czech artist Martin Mišík, who based the visuals on classic sci-fi movie posters of Hollywood’s 50s and 60s, meaning an unusual colorful retro drawing. The new album also brought a completion of the band’s line-up, with the bass guitarist Radek Kro?il, of IROKEZ and formerly of ABSTRACT ESSENCE, and the drummer of FORGOTTEN SILENCE and ADOR DORATH, Zden?k ?epi?ka, joining the core members Libor Kukula (guitar), Ivan Jakubo (vocals) and Honza Pavl?sek (keyboards), as well as a new on-stage style in the vein of, who else than, the superheroes of The Amazing Ascendancy themselves, all of which makes the band ready to conquer club and festival stages alike.

The Amazing Ascendancy Versus Count Illuminatus tracklisting:

‘Zeroes And Ones’

‘A Man Without Identity’

‘My Escape’

‘Why?’

‘Catastrophic Event’

‘Count Illuminatus’

‘Secret Society’

‘Subterranean Utopia’

‘The Amazing Ascendancy’

‘Confrontation’

‘The Dark Side Of Philosophy’

‘Battle Plan’

‘The World Doesn’t Want To Be Saved’

The Amazing Ascendancy Versus Count Illuminatus is released by MetalGate Records in a digipack format, and is available on Metalgate e-shop, in selected stores in Czech Republic, as well as digitally via the Metal Online service.