Ascend is an American experimental doom metal

Doom metal

Doom metal is an extreme form of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other metal genres...

 collaboration between singer/guitarist Gentry Densley

Gentry Densley

Gentry Densely is an American singer, guitarist and composer. A longtime fixture on Salt Lake City, Utah's punk, metal and experimental music scenes, Densely has been involved in numerous bands but is best-known for leading the groups Iceburn, Ascend and Eagle Twin...

 (guitar/vocals) and Greg Anderson

Greg Anderson (musician)

Greg Anderson is an American musician and co-founder of Southern Lord Records.Anderson is the guitarist in the doom/stoner metal outfit Goatsnake, but is also well known for his collaborations with Stephen O'Malley....

 (bass/guitar). Their album Ample Fire Within (2008) was released by Southern Lord Records

Southern Lord Records

Southern Lord is an American record label that was founded in 1998 by Greg Anderson, specializing in what could broadly be classified as experimental heavy metal, particularly the doom metal, stoner rock, and drone metal sub-genres. Some of the more notable artists on the label include Earth, Om,...

 and featured a guest appearance by Soundgarden

Soundgarden

Soundgarden is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington in 1984 by singer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto...

 guitarist Kim Thayil

Kim Thayil

Kim Thayil is an American guitarist best known as the lead guitarist of the Seattle-based grunge band Soundgarden, which he cofounded with singer Chris Cornell and bassist Hiro Yamamoto in 1984...

. Critic Neg Ragget described the album as "a Southern Lord label lovefeast par excellence [...] a masterpiece of carefully focused sludge."[]