I am sure you heard those ghost stories about voices wafting over from inside the walls. Late at night when you’re supposed to get some beauty snooze. But you can’t. Because strange mutterings reach you from – somewhere in the dark. And while you try to discern if the sound emerges from the ceiling, the terrible closet, or – again – the walls, it suddenly stops.
ASET‘s Astral Rape did that to us. The record was brutally ignored upon release and continued to dwell in our boggy review pipe’s dark and smelly depths. And from time to time we got that strange rough gurgling sound coming from that fetid black abyss. Thus finally, the review desk took pity and rose the piece up into today’s dreary and depressive daylight. Because – you see – members of Seth and Oranssi Pazuzu were its acolytes, they said. And that would make it a great album, they said. Okay then, let the record’s terrible magick spew its putrescence!
Right from the start, the piece exudes a keen sense of frightening ancient rituals à la Darkend that lose themselves in the dusty annals of time. Need an example? Check the disturbing video below. This does kinda look similar, now, doesn’t it? And indeed, Astral Rape allegedly explores the occult outrages the ancient Egyptians committed – with a modern touch. So, there you go. They had powerful and vengeful gods in service back then.
And there’s no doubt, we found ourselves seasoned extreme metallists at work here whose musical prowess is honed to a fine art. The RMR crew marveled at the mix of vile rasps, snarls, and rusty hollers that never quite leave the soundscape. But that kind of intensity can also become your very own evil enemy. Because the vocal overload often sucks the scarce oxygen out of the rest of the mix. Also, it is a pity that ASET didn’t choose to roar away in French. Because this is the ultimate language for terrifying metal musings.
From the moment you hit play, you get that insane disjointed feeling of stepping into a dissonant and vantablack metal universe of the undead. References to Corpus Diabolis unexpectedly appear on numerous occasions. Whiffs of ancient malevolence slither towards you on bare skeletal feet. Astral Rape indeed sports a kind of primeval Black Metal we haven’t seen too many times to date. And all that primordial sump creates a vile mix of darkest Black Metal (Seth), ominous atmospheres, and a penchant for terrifying psych that just adds its disturbing grain of blackened salt everywhere it shouldn’t (Oranssi Pazuzu).
In fact, the barebone songwriting with its numerous breakdowns, thundering drums, change of styles, and dark undercurrents really builds that kind of atmosphere you need for a sturdy and dark Extreme Metal piece. And as Force Majeure hits the airwaves, Astral Rape projects a sick pagan feeling of old evil. A bit like one of Aleister Crowley’s famed rituals to summon his preferred daemons.
In the end, ASET whelps an unusual protoplasmic juicy slab of Black Metal that may indeed be a debut album for a new band. But a debut stamped into glowing metal by masters of the trade. Astral Rape indeed thrives on a mix of traditional blackened fare and out-of-the-box psychedelic elements that breathes unholy life into a clutch of ominous and pitch-black tracks. Black Metal at a level of geekery that even the masters of traditional Scandinavian blackened fare from the ’90s cannot match. Nor should they, because this here piece proudly stands alone.
And yet. With all those neat ideas on display, the RMR crew couldn’t shake the feeling that there was much more under the hood for this act. We detected an almost physical restraint throughout the album. I guess to keep the rough-hewn metal clean and sober. So, with that in mind, we can’t wait for that sophomore piece ASET will undoubtedly send our way. Keep ’em coming, guys.
Record Rating: 7/10 | Label: Les Acteurs de l’Ombre Productions | Web: Official Band Site
Release Date: 22 September 2023