Aosoth - Ashes of Angels

February 8, 2010

Reviewer: Matt

For many people, “French black metal” is all the review I need to get you in the door, and fairly so, as French bands in the last decade have put out some quality, albeit frequently overhyped, black metal.  What made me jump on the opportunity to review this release is that Aosoth is a project of MkM, vocalist of Antaeus, among the best French black metal bands of this decade and one that is sadly on indefinite hiatus.  The other member of Aosoth, Bestial Satanic T, did a stint in Aborted and helmed the black metal band Balrog, not an unimpressive pedigree.

Over half of Ashes of Angels is fairly similar to Blood Libels, Antaeus’s 2006 presumptive swansong, meaning that it relies primarily on fluid melodies alternating between dissonance and warmth, high-energy drumming, and MkM’s arhytmic howling.  Where this formula applies, Aosoth is chaotic and militant, a vicious combination of the sublime melodicism of Pure Holocaust and the brutal assault of Zyklon-B.  The title track and “Bannished” are the strongest songs here, and along with “Path of Twisted Light” more than justify a purchase.  Uncompromising and highly cerebral, these songs offer much to a black metal fan looking for a modest substitute for Antaeus or a more coherent Katharsis.

The balance of Ashes of Angels is less impressive.  Slowing down the pace substantially on tracks like “Teaching/Erasing” and “Cries Out the Heaven,” Aosoth phone in some filler to turn an EPs worth of quality material into a full length.  The glaring issue is the simple, one dimensional, rock-based rhythm that underlies these tamer songs.  The riffs are adequate, but Aosoth don’t demonstrate an ability to create melodic/rhythmic interplay, so we’re left with some decent riffs that bear little relation to the rhythmic force of the songs, and hence lack conceptual momentum.  The same is true perhaps for the faster songs, but in those cases the strange, dissonant melodies have a way of ringing in your ears while the relentless percussion pulses underneath, much like the song “Controle and Abuse” from Blood Libels or the “B” riff from “Graven Takeheimens Saler” on Transylvanian Hunger. 

When Ashes of Angels works, it works well.  And it works well frequently, making for a quality, authentic music.  There’s no progressive leanings, no aspirations to philosophical grandeur, just forty five minutes of pure black metal. 

Release Date: October 19th, 2009
Label: Agonia Records

TRACK LISTING

1.  Songs Without Lungs
2.  Ashes of Angels
3.  Path of Twisted Light
4.  Embrace and Enlightment
5.  Teaching/Erasing
6.  Summon the Dead
7.  Cries Out the Heaven
8.  Communion Through Pain
9.  Banished
10.  Inner War (Antaeus cover)

Total playing time:  45:37

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