ASANO, KOJI January Rainbow (Solstice) cd 14.98
Koji Asano, the AQ-beloved Barcelona-based Japanese sound artist, is back at last with a new cd (the twenty-seventh release on his own label Solstice). This new one, "January Rainbow", consists of a 64 minute long track that successfully combines two of our favorite Koji Asano compositional styles: his abstract but lovely piano improv, and electro-acoustic noise-drone! Asano's flowing piano explorations of almost romantic, fractured melodies are heard through a more-than-ambient fluctuating field of thick static, hum, and crackle. If you play this at a low volume, it's like listening to a mellow and pretty avantgarde piano recital over a messed-up shortwave radio signal. But turn it up, and the physical presence of the rumbling electronic noise really takes over! Your choice, both are nice. Those familar with Koji's back catalog need only imagine a DJ mix of his solo piano discs "You Can't Open The Door Because It's Already Open" or "Monsoon" (which already had their a background-ambient-noise element to 'em) with one of his noise-drone oriented discs like "Momentum" or "The Last Shade of Evening Falls". A truly mesmerizing, beautiful balance of melody and drone is the result. So, not only are we glad to hear from Koji again, but we think this is one of our favorite entries in his vast catalog so far!
RealAudio clip: "January Rainbow (excerpt)"

ASANO, KOJI Momentum (Solstice) cd 14.98
Here's another great release from one of our favorite sound artists, Japanese twenty-something Koji Asano, a fellow who really ought to be on the cover of The Wire sometime, in a just world. He is more deserving of that sort of coverage than, say, last issue's cover star Pole. Not that we don't like Pole, but c'mon, that guy has made more-or-less the same record three times in a row, and his work is not based on that original of an idea in the first place. However, Koji Asano has produced over a dozen creative albums, all of them excellent and inventive, in a variety of experimental subgenres, from piano-ambient to electro-noise to skronky guitar rock... but no hip hype for him.
Anyway, this newest effort from Asano deviates from his recent discs of piano improvisations and chamber music compositions with a collection of recordings that we've been told have been "created by two loudspeaker's woofers and the air pressure from the movement of them. Two microphones put inside of the speakers and directly touched on the woofers to make a sound of moving. Those movements were amplified again and again by controlling the mixer and changing the position of microphones." The result is a wash of crunchy, squealing and pulsing drones not all that far from some of Maurizio Bianchi's early power electronics, but without any of the doom 'n' gloom industrial-horror imagery. To go into more detail: the first of the three unamed tracks, is 10 and a half minutes based on a rhythmic helicoptering sound, a clipping rotor-like "whack whack whack" that modulates in tone, tempo, and volume over the length of the track. Also occuring is additional, carefully sculpted feedback noise. Very nice, really, sounding somewhat like a more "live air", electro-acoustic version of the sort of "clicks & cuts" music made by the likes of Noto, but more driving and organic and less sterile. The second, much longer (42'33") track has bursts of scratchy electronic hum forming interwoven patterns of drone. Static never sounded so good.
Eventually the "feedback" comes to the fore, rather like some impossibly precise, persistent, obsessive, repetitive guitar / amplifier battle session. Piercing sounds mix with deeper, hesitant drone-segments, eventually mutating into insect realms of buzzing whine. That segues into the final track, seventeen minutes that morph the insect-like sounds into something resembling some solo saxophone free improv I've heard, rather quiet and sparse, but with a bit of lawnmower-sounding blurt as well. The whole disc is always changing, always alive, and thus full of interest for the adventurous listener. Check out Koji's website at http://personal4.iddeo.es/koji for more info and sound samples of his stuff, most of which we have available at Aquarius.

ASANO, KOJI Monsoon (Solstice) cd 14.98
See "Avalanches" for info.

ASANO, KOJI Octopus Balloons (Solstice) cd 14.98
Koji's back (again)! The very prolific Barcelona-based Japanese composer -- who just returned from the Instal 2002 festival in Glasgow, where he appeared alongside the likes of Mirror, Ryoji Ikeda, Alva.Noto and Phill Niblock -- follows up his recent, wonderful "January Rainbow" release with this new disc (#28!) of experimental electronics. No pretty piano this time, rather you get a dreamlike, if ominous, background hum out of which glitchy bursts of chirping, grinding electronic noise emerge. These interruptions build in intensity and density, first establishing some kind of abstract rhythm, then coalescing into a loud, layered, rumbling drone. Eventually Koji brings the piece back into a zone of bleep-punctuated silence. These could be the voices in the head of an unstable antagonist in an imaginary techno-psycho-horror film...to our ears, quite nice! If you like the, shall we say "abrasively listenable" side of Koji's eclectic sound explorations, the stuff that aligns him with Merzbow and Aube, "Octopus Balloons" should interest you indeed.
And as with all of Koji's recent releases on his label Solstice, this disc comes packaged in a slim cardboard sleeve, featuring another of Koji's beautiful urban landscape photos on the cover.
RealAudio clip: "Octopus Balloons (excerpt)"

ASANO, KOJI Pheromone (Solstice) cd 14.98
Little-known but highly talented young Japanese avant-garde composer Asano works with piano, electronics, guitar etc. on this disc.

ASANO, KOJI Piano Suite Vol. 1: Fitness Club No. 1-20 (Solstice) cd 14.98

ASANO, KOJI Preparing For April (Solstice) cd 14.98
Composer/multi-instrumentalist/improviser Koji Asano's 13th self-released cd is here! A beautiful yet strange, oddly recorded disc of solo piano meditations, 67 minutes spread over six tracks. The ambient background his/hum is at times as much part of the soundscape as is Asano's piano playing (not unlike one of his three earlier piano discs, the lovely "You Cannot Open The Door Because It Is Already Open", which was recorded in an abandoned castle near St. Petersburg which provides plenty of echoey atmosphere). This one, though, was recorded in Asano's new home of Barcelona, Spain, and the atmosphere probably comes from the monaural micro-cassette recorder used for the recording!
With a nice cover photo as always, a desolate desert landscape/sky with hopeful saplings sprouting inside protective cages.

ASANO, KOJI Quoted Landscape (Solstice) cd 14.98
Japanese sound artist Koji Asano recently (last weekend!) graced AQ with an instore performance, and it's a shame if you missed it 'cause what we'll call his "laptop Merzbow" style electronics were intense and mesmerizing indeed. He brought along copies of this new cd (his 20th! I asked him why he only ever releases stuff on his own label Solstice and he said it's so he can control when his music comes out, and in what order -- he's got another 5 releases planned for this year, I believe!). It's one long 73 minute track of crackle and hum, a lot of which sounds like wind-on-microphone recordings and very glitchy electrical connections. Needless to say, it's one of his most abstract and difficult compositions. While Koji's instore, and especially his other Bay Area performances, were high-volume computer-noise-drone juggernauts that satisfied on a visceral level (some of the audience were almost headbanging at his Sunday night show), this disc is much more subtle and non-digital and ambient. Not the Koji Asano album for newcomers to start with, but fans should investigate.

ASANO, KOJI Rabbit Room Reservation Center (Solstice) cd 16.98
The big 4-0 for our pal Koji here. No, he hasn't turned 40 (far from it) but he's reached his fortieth cd release! We've been fans since way back when you could count Koji Asano albums on the fingers of one hand. And we're happy to say that he's kept up the quality all along, as anyone who picked up number 39, reviewed here not too long ago, knows. Rabbit Room Reservation Centre (Koji has a thing for rabbits, it seems) is a visit to the dronier side of Asano's ouvre, which is a nice place to be. There's three tracks, lasting 10, 23 and 24 minutes or so. They've got the sound of insects and/or appliances amplified and abstracted... but we can only guess how he actually made this music. His press release reads thusly: "new electro-acoustic works, infiltrating slowly while deeply resounding." That doesn't say a lot but it's accurate! Generally we think he likes to leave things to the imagination, a bit mysterious, cryptic... so we'll simply offer up that some of this gives us the vibe of a propeller-driven airplane droning over the Himayalas, that sort of loneliness in a vast space... even if this simply may be the processed sounds of appliances in Asano's apartment. Or a Rabbit Room Reservation Center, whatever that is!
MPEG Stream: "Rabbit Room Reservation Center I"
MPEG Stream: "Rabbit Room Reservation Center II"

ASANO, KOJI Sanctuary On Reclaimed Land (Solstice) cd 16.98
Man, we've got some catching up to do. Since we last listed anything from prolific AQ-fave Koji Asano (that'd be 2002's Octopus Balloons), the Japanese avant-composer has moved from Barcelona back to Japan, gotten married, had a baby, and somehow managed to record and release another NINE albums. He's up to his thirty-seventh release now!! Dunno if we're gonna manage to retrospectively, individually review all of 'em but we'll at least try to get back with the program by presenting to you now numbers 36 (Sanctuary On Reclaimed Land) and 37 (Takoyakikun). We do, however, also have a couple copies each of The Giant Squid, Gondola Odyssey, Piano Suite Vol. 1: Fitness Club No. 1-20, Absurd Summer, Suite For Organ And Recorders No. 1: The Alien Power Plant, Zoo Telepathy, and Wind Gauge in stock for any fellow Asano enthusiasts that need to complete their collections right now.
Anyway, Sanctuary On Reclaimed Land is definitely still the Koji Asano music we know and love. Recorded as part of an installation in an empty warehouse on the Osaka waterfront, literally a "sanctuary on reclaimed land", this 51 minute piece is the sound of the interaction of a grand piano with a computerized sound system inside the echoing interior space of the warehouse. Notes played on the piano were amplified, reflected, and reproduced via computer processing and multiple microphones and speakers. Asano says he "received the inspiration of moisture and the sea breeze, while vibrating the Osaka harbor warehouse by a large volume and ... completed a large integrated work of the grand piano and computer sound". The results are a gorgeous ambient drone piece, that sounds not unlike Wolfgang Voigt's work as Gas. We've always enjoyed Koji's various piano-based projects (discs like Preparing For April, The End Of August, You Cannot Open The Door Because It Is Already Open, and January Rainbow) and this one belongs in that bunch, but at the end of a continuum where the piano as an identifiable sound source is almost entirely abstracted. Very nice.
Instead of the cardboard sleeves of most of his recent releases, this (and Takoyakikun too) comes housed in Asano's newest style of cd packaging, a plastic, sort of cd-sized dvd case.
MPEG Stream: "Sanctuary On Reclaimed Land (excerpt)"

ASANO, KOJI Solstice (Solstice) cd 16.98
Album number 1 in Koji's catalog. One of our all-time favorites of his. It's eclectic and noisy, with one part that sounds like a sampled ping-pong game.

ASANO, KOJI Spherical Moss Factory (Solstice) cd 14.98
With album number 26 in his rapidly expanding discography, Japanese experimental composer Koji Asano switches from packaging his cds in jewel cases to putting them in slim cardboard sleeves. He tells us that the reason for this change is in part because of a dream he had, about how his ancient Barcelona flat would collapse under the weight of all those jewel cases when he reached his hundredth release! And he's over a quarter of the way there already, so that's a real concern...
This 72-minute "Spherical Moss Factory" disc continues Koji's interest in high-end (shrill) sonic explorations, being a piece in two parts written for violin and contrabass, performed by the Koji Asano String Ensemble, which consists of Tomomi Tokunaga and Kentaro Suzuki on those instruments respectively. But the first few minutes of track one don't betray the stringed instrument sound source, as the near-inaudible scrape of Tomomi's violin starts things off in what sounds like an emulation of the sine-wave electronics of Sachiko M. But soon the listener realizes that this is no computer processed piece, but an avant-classical composition featuring real human musicians on acoustic instruments. Track two displays quite a bit more energy from the get go, as Tomomi saws away on her violin with abandon, before relaxing and entering into a duet with Kentaro's deep contrabass bowing. All throughout both tracks, the violin and contrabass together trade mournful moans in a melodic (if melancholy) mode, punctuated by frenzied scrabblings. We may not be season ticket holders to the symphony or 20th/21st century classical experts, but we know what we like, and we do like this.
RealAudio clip: "Spherical Moss Factory pt. 2"

ASANO, KOJI Spirit Of The Wardrobe (Solstice) cd 14.98
AQ-fave Japanese sound experimentalist Asano is putting us to the test with another of his monthy (!) releases, another one on the "difficult" (for him) side of things. Maybe the monthly schedule is getting the better of him, too, 'cause here he kinda takes a breather with what's really a very conceptual album. He recorded some sounds in his backyard in Barcelona, then processed them into brief bursts of audible activity spaced between long stretches of pure silence, these placements in time being his main compositional task. The disc is nearly an hour long, but there may be less than a minute of actual sound on it! Yep, we said it was conceptual! (A term which, depending on your viewpoint, can equal stupid.) It's not meant for "normal" music listening usage at all, like when you put a cd in the player and think "ok, I'm listening to some music/sound now" (whether you pay attention to it or not). Instead, this idea here is to play this when perhaps you weren't intending to really listen to anything. 'Cause the cd isn't really "playing" in a normal sense. It's more like by putting it in your cd player you're "activating" this disc, which will occasionally make itself known in sudden, startling fashion. If you don't pay attention, it's background noise -- but background noise that can be confusing or shocking depending on at what volume you've set your stereo. If it's low, you'll think you're hearing things, if it's high, it can be, well, startling. If you *do* pay attention, you'll allow yourself the tense experience of waiting and anticipating the appearance of Koji's next sound-segment, which themselves are mysterious fragments to puzzle over (wondering about their sources and so forth). In a word: interesting...hmm...well, it can make you think about the recreational role of sound-use in your life, what "listening" means to you.
RealAudio clip: "Spirit Of The Wardrobe (excerpt)"

ASANO, KOJI Spring Estuary (Solstice) cd 14.98
Ok, it's that time again. We've got two new ones here from AQ fave Koji Asano, the eclectic and very prolific Japanese experimental composer. These are numbers 38 and 39 in his steadily growing cd catalog!!
Number 39 is his very latest recording, Spring Estuary. The vague information we have seems to indicate that Asano used water as a sound source for this disc. But it sure doesn't sound like him splashing about in the bath! It's really shimmery and sort of churchy -- we would have guessed that he was manipulating recordings of pipe organ and/or bells, though the third track sounds like more like wheezing horns, all distorted and billowy. There's a total of four tracks here, the final one taking up the majority of the disc at almost 34 minutes in length. Imagine that the children's carousel in the park is somehow also one of Philip Jeck's turntables -- a giant Jeck turntable/carousel, turning and turning, its pretty music blurred and warped and utterly overwhelming and enveloping all around it. Very nice!
MPEG Stream: "Spring Estuary II"
MPEG Stream: "Spring Estuary III"

ASANO, KOJI Suite For Organ And Recorders No. 1 - "The Alien Power Plant" (Solstice) cd 16.98

ASANO, KOJI Sunshine Filtering Through Foliage (Solstice) cd 14.98
See "Avalanches" for info.

ASANO, KOJI Takoyakikun (Solstice) cd 14.98
Man, we've got some catching up to do. Since we last listed anything from prolific AQ-fave Koji Asano (that'd be 2002's Octopus Balloons), the Japanese avant-composer has moved from Barcelona back to Japan, gotten married, had a baby, and somehow managed to record and release another NINE albums. He's up to his thirty-seventh release now!! Dunno if we're gonna manage to retrospectively, individually review all of 'em but we'll at least try to get back with the program by presenting to you now numbers 36 (Sanctuary On Reclaimed Land) and 37 (Takoyakikun). We do, however, also have a couple copies each of The Giant Squid, Gondola Odyssey, Piano Suite Vol. 1: Fitness Club No. 1-20, Absurd Summer, Suite For Organ And Recorders No. 1: The Alien Power Plant, Zoo Telepathy, and Wind Gauge in stock for any fellow Asano enthusiasts that need to complete their collections right now.
Takoyakikun is a bit of a departure for Asano, or maybe a return to his roots. For one thing, it's not one long, cd-length track, but several different, individual songs. Songs? Well, instrumental rock numbers anyway. Yes, rock. Or avant-rock, or prog-rock, or something. And, unlike most of his releases which are solo recordings (or sometimes string ensembles), this is a band project -- the very same band with which he made one of his first discs, Gravity.
Maddeningly convoluted and repetitive at times, this is choppy, angular, occasionally melodic, no-wave instrumental improv prog from a trio of guitar, keyboards and drums (Asano being the guitarist). We think folks into other skronky underground Japanese prog-core acts like Ruins and Korekyojinn would find this of interest... The keys definitely give it a "classic" prog vibe, and there's even a drum solo in track five! Recorded in 1997 (and released as a cd-r only at the time) now Asano has remastered and repackaged Takoyakikun for a proper cd release on his Solstice label.
MPEG Stream: "Takoyakikun track 1"
MPEG Stream: "Takoyakikun track 2"
MPEG Stream: "Takoyakikun track 3"

ASANO, KOJI The End Of August (Solstice) cd 16.98
Beautiful! This new release from prolific Barcelona-based Japanese experimental composer Koji Asano, number 22 (!) in his ongoing series of fascinating self-released recordings, is described by Asano as "a long lost memory of a once heard piano." Now, he has released several other gorgeous discs of ambient piano improv, but this one augments his melodic piano abstractions with what sounds like a layered, electronic collage of church bells ringing, backed with a mesmerizing insect buzz, capturing the humid, humming ambience of a late summer afternoon... Unlike some of Koji's other recent releases which were on the creepier, darker, noisier side of things, this is simply gorgeous. Melancholic, yes, but lovely too. Recommended. (Asano disc #23, "A Second Dam", is on the way, by the way.)
RealAudio clip: "The End of August (excerpt)"

ASANO, KOJI The Giant Squid: A Collection Of Short Pieces Vol. 1 - Works From 1997-1998 (Solstice) cd 14.98

ASANO, KOJI The Last Shade of Evening Falls 2/4 (Solstice) cd 14.98
Briefly, part two rachets the tension up even further with some insectoid drones, lonely and menacing.

ASANO, KOJI The Last Shade of Evening Falls 3/4 (Solstice) cd 14.98
Part three seems to have the most dynamism, with Asano's gurgling late-evening drones meeting with sudden, eerie, shudder-inducing stabs in the growing darkness.

ASANO, KOJI The Last Shade of Evening Falls 4/4 (Solstice) cd 14.98
...And the fourth and final installment of Asano's "Last Shade" wavers and keens like the mad monstrous pipers of Azathoth's court in the center of the universe trying to play a Tony Conrad composition!

ASANO, KOJI Vacant Land (Solstice) cd 16.98
A noisy/ambient one, in a digipak.

ASANO, KOJI Wind Gauge (Solstice) cd 14.98

ASANO, KOJI You Cannot Open The Door Because It Is Already Open (Solstice) cd 14.98
So lovely. Another AQ-fave by this AQ-fave Japanese composer. "You Cannot Open The Door Because It Is Already Open" is moody, abstract piano improv, recorded in an abandoned Russian castle, which provides the mysterious background ambiance.

ASANO, KOJI Zoo Telepathy (Solstice) cd 14.98

ASANO. KOJI The Last Shade of Evening Falls 1/4 (Solstice) cd 14.98
Japanese composer/experimentalist (and AQ fave sound artist) Koji Asano is known not only for the quality of his work (almost always quite excellent) but for the sheer quantity of his releases over the last few years -- sixteen of 'em as of today, more if you count limited edition cd-rs -- which run the creative gamut from gorgeous piano meditiations, to computer noise, to chamber music, to rock guitar improv. Also unique about Koji is that ALL his music has been released on his own label, Solstice (now based, as he is, in Spain). And as if to cement Koji's reputation as a prolific composer, now Solstice presents the simutanous release of four new cds, comprising one extensive composition of abstract electro-acoustic drone, entitled "The Last Shade of Evening Falls". Now if there's one thing that drone-lovers can agree on, is that you never want 'em to end -- so what could be better than the over four and a half hours of this piece? Each disc is over an hour long, one track. Now it's not at all pure drone all the way through, that's but a part of the equation. Over the course of these four cds, Koji utilizes all sorts of slow groaning burbling tones, higher-pitched distortion, moaning echoes. His sounds are derived from violin and contrabass -- not that you'd guess, although you can tell they're from something "organic". Koji wrote music for those instruments that was recorded in Japan by his Koji Asano Ensemble, and then he spent the long dusks of a week in Barceleona near the time of the summer solstice to reconstruct and recompose the piece in his computer, processing and manipulating the original recording. Overall, "Last Shade" is dark, textural work that's going to take us longer than the running time to come to fully digest -- but what we've heard so far has been lovely. We're selling the cds seperately but obviously you need to get all four! However, a capsule review of "1/4" is that it's relatively more "melodic" than the other discs, and establishes a murder-mystery sense of tension as well.

ASBESTOSCAPE s/t (self released) cd-r 10.98
In the wake of Jesu, and about a million other shoegazey bliss-metal combos, it's a little surprising that Asbestoscape is the first band to take that blown out dreamy heaviness to an entirely new place. Well okay, maybe not entirely, but this, the debut cd-r by this mysterious one man band is actually quite refreshing, and a handful of folks we trust are proclaiming this their record of the year. And we can see why. In a nutshell, imagine sweeping post rock epics, merged with crumbling distorted blissed out metalgaze, but now lace the whole thing with skittery programmed rhythms, bursts of stuttery jungle, stretches of shuffling downtempo grooves, it's pretty fucking great. And the sound, deconstructed, can result in two different equations, one: a metal band, a slow, fuzzy dreamy metal band, mixing in cool jungle rhythms, or two: an electronic outfit, jungle or drum and bass or whatever, incorporating guitars and post rocky melodies. Either way, the results are sublime.
But this juxtaposition, while cool, is not enough to sustain an entire record. Thankfully, Asbestoscape has a deft hand with composition too, the tracks here are dark and minor key, grand and majestic, epic and super dramatic. Instrumental of course, but never boring, the textures and melodies and rhythms more than enough to keep it interesting. It's easy to hear bits of Jesu, Mono, Explosions In The Sky, Mogwai, Nadja, but those sounds get their own unique twist, the deal sealed by flurries of spastic drum splatter, or mechanical minimal almost industrial rhythmic crunch. There are long slow building epics, the jangly guitars, shot through with high end streaks, underpinned by thick swells of muted heaviness, all held together by crystalline frameworks of programmed skitter, there are huge chugging metallic riffs gradually blurred into shimmering squalls of blissy buzz, some gorgeous slow burning dirges, that almost sound like a slowed down, prettier Godflesh (doing it almost better than Jesu), simple glistening stretches of stripped down post rock, wreathed in prismatic guitar jangle and a deep droney low end that sounds almost like strings, there's even a track that sounds like a post rock-ed chunk of dubstep. But it all works, and while in lesser hands the programmed rhythms could sound forced and gimmicky, they don't here, not only do they manage to sound organic, they also become an integral part of the Asbestoscape sound.
The more we listen to this, the more we dig it. And thankfully, as Jesu moves more and more toward M83's eighties retro revival, albeit heavier (a move we're not at all opposed to, btw) it seems like Asbestoscape are here to fill that void, in addition to offering up a new take on the post rock / metal sound that should have fans of any of the above mentioned bands freaking out big time.
MPEG Stream: "Arctic"
MPEG Stream: "Mono"
MPEG Stream: "Ashen"

ASBESTOSDEATH Unclean / Dejection (Southern Lord) cd 10.98
Thanks to AQ pal Matt for the low down on this slab of pre-Sleep heaviness, long out of print singles finally available again, collected on a single cd:
We used to see Asbestosdeath in the very early '90s around the Bay Area, at the East Bay punk institution 924 Gilman and various punk rock parties. They released two singles, the latter on the Minneapolis label of anarcho-punk stalwarts, Profane Existence. The band that evolved into Sleep -- who fans would like to think of as a "doom" or "stoner" band today -- was actually more akin to the then crust-influenced Neurosis, Christ on Parade and various UK anarcho and post-Discharge bands.
Slowed waaay down, of course. At the time, liking Asbestosdeath was a seriously guilty pleasure. Their worship of Neurosis and Melvins was obvious. If you liked the sound of those bands -- and lots of people did -- this band was not all that surprising. Highly enjoyable, but not groundbreaking.
Upon re-recording slower and more polished versions of these tracks for Sleep's debut album "Volume 1," they officially entered the arena of the world's slowest, heaviest bands... a field then dominated by the Melvins and perhaps Drunks with Guns but soon to be populated by the likes of Eyehategod, Grief, Buzzov-en and Earth, among many. Over time, they definitely got better. Their songs got more interesting. And they added wizards. And doobies. And the rest is history.
Sonically, these tracks belong squarely alongside Neurosis' The Word As Law and Melvins recordings up to Bullhead. They're gritty and more aggressive than what you'd expect. But they still sound fresh, and the arrangements have a sparse, atmospheric quality that typifies the aesthetic of most of the bands on Southern Lord today.
MPEG Stream: "Nail"
MPEG Stream: "Scourge"

ASBESTOSDEATH Unclean / Dejection (Southern Lord) 10" 10.98
Now available on vinyl! Here's our review from when we first listed the cd...
Thanks to AQ pal Matt for the low down on this slab of pre-Sleep heaviness, long out of print singles finally available again, collected on a single cd:
We used to see Asbestosdeath in the very early '90s around the Bay Area, at the East Bay punk institution 924 Gilman and various punk rock parties. They released two singles, the latter on the Minneapolis label of anarcho-punk stalwarts, Profane Existence. The band that evolved into Sleep -- who fans would like to think of as a "doom" or "stoner" band today -- was actually more akin to the then crust-influenced Neurosis, Christ on Parade and various UK anarcho and post-Discharge bands.
Slowed waaay down, of course. At the time, liking Asbestosdeath was a seriously guilty pleasure. Their worship of Neurosis and Melvins was obvious. If you liked the sound of those bands -- and lots of people did -- this band was not all that surprising. Highly enjoyable, but not groundbreaking.
Upon re-recording slower and more polished versions of these tracks for Sleep's debut album "Volume 1," they officially entered the arena of the world's slowest, heaviest bands... a field then dominated by the Melvins and perhaps Drunks with Guns but soon to be populated by the likes of Eyehategod, Grief, Buzzov-en and Earth, among many. Over time, they definitely got better. Their songs got more interesting. And they added wizards. And doobies. And the rest is history.
Sonically, these tracks belong squarely alongside Neurosis' The Word As Law and Melvins recordings up to Bullhead. They're gritty and more aggressive than what you'd expect. But they still sound fresh, and the arrangements have a sparse, atmospheric quality that typifies the aesthetic of most of the bands on Southern Lord today.
MPEG Stream: "Nail"
MPEG Stream: "Scourge"

ASCENSION Broadcast (Shock) 2cd 28.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A double-disc live recording by the amazing extreme improv duo of guitarist Stephan Jaworzyn (ex-Skullflower, ex-Whitehouse) and drummer Tony Irving (Derv), as broadcast by San Jose's KFJC live via ISDN from their home of London, England. Noisy, heavy, "out" guitar explorations/explosions don't come much better. Highly recommended for fans of Derek Bailey, Harry Pussy, Keiji Haino, etc.

ASCOLTARE VS. KEITH Drugs (Tripel) 3" cd 9.98

ASESINO Corridos De Muerte (Kool Arrow) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Juan Brujo of Brujeria brings us a series of 13 Demoniaco recordings, each fronted by a different member of the underground Brujeria clan. Each Demoniaco album will bear the name of the Demoniaco chosen. Brutal hardcore mexican murder metal. 13 supposed true stories of gnarly horror sickness. a social comentary of sorts. offered in the meanest hardcore metal. The first of this series is led by ASESINO. The band consists of Asesino on guitar, Grenudo on the drums, and the newest addition to this death squad, Maldito X on bass and vocals.
RealAudio clip: "Asesino"
RealAudio clip: "Rey De La Selva"

ASGARD ROOT Inaugural Issue - Spring 2008 magazine 14.98
The world can always use another great metal magazine. Sure we've got Terrorizer, Decibel, Salt and Rock-A-Rolla and definitely a few others, each with their own slant, and specific focus, but heck, there's plenty of amazing metal music happening so we'll always welcome another mag, and being the music nerds we are, we just love reading about bands and of course reading record reviews!
Thus we have Asgard Root, who specialize in "black metal / doom / dark ambient / drone / philosophy / literature / dark art" and indeed their inaugural issue is chock full of all of the above, and the list of the contents practically screams aQ!
Exclusive interviews with Wolves In The Throne Room, Ludicra, Abigor, Orthodox, Elysian Blaze, Forgotten Tomb and new-to-us UK doom outfit The River. Also an interview with Alex Kurtagic, the man who runs Supernal Records, and the mastermind behind weirdo black metal outfit Benighted Leams!
Plus there are tons of record reviews, lots of cool creepy photos, artwork and poetry, so obviously a labor of love, and the fact that they love lots of the same kind of stuff we do, makes this well worth investigating.
The layout is a little strange, but sure it will tighten up in the future, but a very small complaint, considering all the kick ass stuff in this first issue. We're already looking forward to the second...

ASGEIRSSON, HALLVARDUR Lifsblomio (Paradigms) cd 12.98
From the seemingly infallible Paradigms label, who in the past have brought us amazing releases from (we're gonna have to stop doing this, pretty soon the list of killer Paradigms releases will be longer than most reviews): Hjarnidaudi, Amber Asylum, Throne Of Katarsis, Blueprint Human Being, Utlagr, the Angelic Process, Titan, Jarboe and that amazing Walking With Ghosts compilation. Avid readers of the list should probably own all of those by now. Each one totally unique and amazing in its own way. This time around we have two more releases just as unique and amazing, the post rock avant doom of Woburn House, reviewed elsewhere on this list, and this disc of droning doomed classical beauty from Icelandic composer Hallvardur Asgeirsson.
It's hard to know exactly how to describe this. That Icelandic sound is there. You can certainly here bits of Sigur Ros, that sort of dramatic dreaminess, but it's way more abstract. Almost like some twentieth century classical minimalism played by Sigur Ros, or even the other way around. Strings soar and drift, weaving melancholy sadscapes of sound, the whole thing wrapped in gauzy streaks of industrial noise, buzzing metallic shimmer, high keening tones, crackling hiss, fuzzy low end rumbles. It could almost be a track from some nonexistent Kranky records tribute to Schonberg. Dark and droney enough to appeal to the usual suspects, but at the same time this is ABSOLUTELY classical music. Mainly piano and strings, but occasionally accompanied by operatic vocals and various percussion, these pieces are alternately minimal, abstract, droney, dense, dreamy and doomy. In fact, track six is simply titled "Doom" and is most definitely doom, with a guitar / bass / drums / contrabass lineup replacing the more traditional classical arrangement, but it somehow manages to still sound classical, albeit, with a heavier dirge element. The final track, the nearly 19 minute "Vitisvelar" takes the super spare sound of modern classical minimalism, mixes in strange fanfares, as well as some driving propulsive rhythms, the result being a very cinematic sound, like the action scenes from some lost sixties spy move. So cool!
Unlike most of the Paradigms releases, which come in cardboard sleeves wrapped in hand stamped, brown paper, this disc is in a white DVD case, with black and white printed insert...
MPEG Stream: "Doom"
MPEG Stream: "Seasons In Black"
MPEG Stream: "Die Blume Des Lebens"

ASH POOL Black Bondage In The North (Paragon) 7" 4.50
Another ultra brief blackened missive from the blacknoiserock duo Ash Pool (half of which just so happens to be noisemaker Prurient), after a totally mindblowing cassette on Tour De Garde. Ash Pool spew forth some sort of primitive and raw thrashing blackness, a strange hybrid of black metal and noise rock. Blasting furiously one moment, loping along almost melodically the next. On the tape, the damaged demented sonic assault was peppered with brief bits of melody and jangle, all of which are even more evident on this brand new single. 
Side A is an ultra raw grimy black sludge stomp, murky and fuzzy, the vocals howled and blown out, so much so that they send the meters even more into the red, swallowing all the other sounds whole, a pounding relentless groove, almost like a blackened Brainbombs. But even at its most brutal, Ash Pool can't seem to help letting weirdly melodic riffs and stretches of jangle guitar slip into the otherwise harsh and hateful proceedings. So much so that here and there the sound is almost poppy, but it's easy to miss as everything is so slathered in grimy production and gritty distortion.
The B side begins with just jangly guitar and simple tribal drumming, surprisingly pretty, a loping shimmering smear of tranquil poppiness, that is of course eventually totally obliterated by a wash of black thrash and buzzing sludge....

ASH POOL Genital Tomb (Tour De Garde) cassette 5.98
From the demented man behind the abrasive noise assault of Prurient comes the blackened buzz of Ash Pool. And holy shit is this some of the best stuff we've ever heard in a while. Fans of stuff like Bone Awl and Ancestors will freak for this. It's not just the songs but the sound. Simple riffing, but recorded super hot, and drums so high in the mix they pulse and throb all thick and distorted, vocals harsh and hateful that swallow all the other sounds whole. The riffs are killer, old school but blown out and noisy as fuck. When the band locks into a black blast, it's almost an impenetrable droning buzz, but then out of nowhere the band will shift gears into some weird super melodic bridge, or some midtempo groove. A seemingly impossible blend of melancholy melodiousness, buzzing black thrash and super saturated ultraviolent noise rock. Awesome.

ASH POOL World Turns On Its Hinge (Hospital Productions) cd 12.98
Finally! The first proper full length from these NY based, ultra sick, primitive black metal noise merchants. Everything we've heard so far we've dug like crazy, a single and a tape, each filthy and dripping with blown out black buzz and pounding punkish riffing. This full length is more of the same, and if anything ups the ante sonically. 
Meaner, heavier, thrashier, filthier, more raw and primitive and blown out, and like the other records, still poppy and weirdly catchy. This is most definitely black metal, but a crushing primitive D-beat style BM, following a similar sonic path as fellow black hordes Bone Awl, Ancestors, Akitsa, Malveillance and the like. 
Ash Pool is one part blacknoise outfit Prurient, so you knew there was gonna be noise, but the noise here is deftly harnessed into roiling black riffs and blasting beats, woozy, dizzying seasick blasts of relentless pound, furious and fierce, the production thick and blown out, in the red, crumbling distortion and murky reverb everywhere. 
But this isn't just the same song over and over, set the instruments to blast and let the record play out. No these songs are varied and bizarre, occasionally epic and dramatic, sometimes so fast and brutal it borders on pure noise, sometimes a Brainbombs style caveman pound, sometimes a weird minor key mathrock jam, always appropriately blown out and noisy, but now and then the songs veer into strange, creepy, almost pretty territory, a slow and loping doomic lurch, with minor key melodies that manage to be mournful and funereal but still jagged and buzzy. Winding melancholic lopes that just sort of meander and chug abstractly. But it's never long before the tracks splinter into jagged shards, with the song exploding into another stretch of raw toxic pummel, the vocals doused in FX and convulsing wildly atop the relentless riffage. And every once in a while, the band lock into some crazy melodic groove, and for a brief moment you almost forget you're listening to some harsh and hateful black noise outfit. 
Hard to explain how great this stuff is, it all manages to be so visceral and intense, emotional and depressive, melodic with losing it's flesh-peeling edge, so sonically varied without losing its focus, the slow songs are perfect bridges between the speaker shredding streaks of black brutality, but even when things are chaotic and on the verge of collapse, the songs still manage to be catchy and melodic and heavy as fuck. 
MPEG Stream: "Sin Of Life"
MPEG Stream: "Crucifixion Fantasy"
MPEG Stream: "Vices Triumph Over Wisdom"

ASH POOL World Turns On Its Hinge (Paragon) lp 16.98
Now on vinyl, the amazing debut full length from these NY based, ultra sick, primitive black metal noise merchants. Everything we've heard so far we've dug like crazy, a single and a tape, each filthy and dripping with blown out black buzz and pounding punkish riffing. This full length is more of the same, and if anything ups the ante sonically. 
Meaner, heavier, thrashier, filthier, more raw and primitive and blown out, and like the other records, still poppy and weirdly catchy. This is most definitely black metal, but a crushing primitive D-beat style BM, following a similar sonic path as fellow black hordes Bone Awl, Ancestors, Akitsa, Malveillance and the like. 
Ash Pool is one part blacknoise outfit Prurient, so you knew there was gonna be noise, but the noise here is deftly harnessed into roiling black riffs and blasting beats, woozy, dizzying seasick blasts of relentless pound, furious and fierce, the production thick and blown out, in the red, crumbling distortion and murky reverb everywhere. 
But this isn't just the same song over and over, set the instruments to blast and let the record play out. No these songs are varied and bizarre, occasionally epic and dramatic, sometimes so fast and brutal it borders on pure noise, sometimes a Brainbombs style caveman pound, sometimes a weird minor key mathrock jam, always appropriately blown out and noisy, but now and then the songs veer into strange, creepy, almost pretty territory, a slow and loping doomic lurch, with minor key melodies that manage to be mournful and funereal but still jagged and buzzy. Winding melancholic lopes that just sort of meander and chug abstractly. But it's never long before the tracks splinter into jagged shards, with the song exploding into another stretch of raw toxic pummel, the vocals doused in FX and convulsing wildly atop the relentless riffage. And every once in a while, the band lock into some crazy melodic groove, and for a brief moment you almost forget you're listening to some harsh and hateful black noise outfit. 
Hard to explain how great this stuff is, it all manages to be so visceral and intense, emotional and depressive, melodic with losing it's flesh-peeling edge, so sonically varied without losing its focus, the slow songs are perfect bridges between the speaker shredding streaks of black brutality, but even when things are chaotic and on the verge of collapse, the songs still manage to be catchy and melodic and heavy as fuck. 
The lp version includes super striking new artwork and an lp sized insert!
MPEG Stream: "Sin Of Life"
MPEG Stream: "Crucifixion Fantasy"
MPEG Stream: "Vices Triumph Over Wisdom"

ASH RA TEMPEL Join In/Starring Rosi (Purple Pyramid) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Two albums on one disc, this reissue features the talents of krautrock legends Manuel Gottsching, Klaus Schulze, Rosi Mueller, Dieter Dierks and others. Cosmic stuff, the title of the first (twenty-minute) track says it all: "Freak 'n' Roll".

ASH RA TEMPEL s/t (Spalax) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

ASH RA TEMPEL Schwingungen (Spalax) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

ASH RA TEMPEL Schwingungen/Seven Up (Purple Pyramid) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Following last week's Join In/Starring Rosi, another Ash Ra Tempel 2-on-1 reissue, more cosmic krautrock exploring light and darkness, space and time (with the help of acid guru Timothy Leary on Seven Up).

ASHBY, DOROTHY Afro-Harping (Verve/Cadet) cd 12.98
If David Axelrod produced an Alice Coltrane record, the results might sound something like Dorothy Ashby's 1968 breakout recording, Afro-Harpin'. Of course that's not giving credit where credit is surely due. Dorothy Ashby was on the scene way before Alice Coltrane and she was the first artist to front a jazz combo with the harp in the early fifties inspiring Alice Coltrane to take it up after moving on from the vibraphone. And though David Axelrod is better known nowadays, Richard Evans isn't some nobody producer, having created, along with fellow producer Charles Stepney, the richly textured soulful sound of Chicago's Cadet Records. A sound that relied more heavily on strings, flutes, and vibes rather than horns, and that along with some tribal percussion and hypnotic beats underscored some of the most diverse and underrated soul recordings of the late sixties (Rotary Connection, Ramsey Lewis, Fugi, Marlena Shaw and Soulful Strings). Eccentric Soul indeed!
From the opening off-kilter Theremin and drum breaks on "Soul Vibrations", you know we're in for a truly different kind of soul-jazz record. By the time the flutes and harp kick in, we're well under Ashby and Evans spell. A cool summery cocktail of majestic funkiness that will satisfy every groovy nerve in your body. Comprised mostly of original compositions with the exception of a couple of then-contemporary standards like "The Look of Love" and Theme From Valley Of The Dolls", there are some tracks that settle into a nice soft lounge vibe without ever getting cheesy. In fact the Hammond organ solo on "The Look of Love" finishes the album quite nicely. Having recorded three amazing break-filled and heavily sampled records for the Cadet label, we hope we will be hearing more of Miss Ashby's harp grooves again real soon. Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Soul Vibrations"
MPEG Stream: "Afro-Harping"
MPEG Stream: "Little Sunflower"

ASHBY, DOROTHY Afro-Harping (Cadet) lp 11.98
This legendary disc, and HUGE aQ fave, now reissued on vinyl as well!
If David Axelrod produced an Alice Coltrane record, the results might sound something like Dorothy Ashby's 1968 breakout recording, Afro-Harpin'. Of course that's not giving credit where credit is surely due. Dorothy Ashby was on the scene way before Alice Coltrane and she was the first artist to front a jazz combo with the harp in the early fifties inspiring Alice Coltrane to take it up after moving on from the vibraphone. And though David Axelrod is better known nowadays, Richard Evans isn't some nobody producer, having created, along with fellow producer Charles Stepney, the richly textured soulful sound of Chicago's Cadet Records. A sound that relied more heavily on strings, flutes, and vibes rather than horns, and that along with some tribal percussion and hypnotic beats underscored some of the most diverse and underrated soul recordings of the late sixties (Rotary Connection, Ramsey Lewis, Fugi, Marlena Shaw and Soulful Strings). Eccentric Soul indeed!
From the opening off-kilter Theremin and drum breaks on "Soul Vibrations", you know we're in for a truly different kind of soul-jazz record. By the time the flutes and harp kick in, we're well under Ashby and Evans spell. A cool summery cocktail of majestic funkiness that will satisfy every groovy nerve in your body. Comprised mostly of original compositions with the exception of a couple of then-contemporary standards like "The Look of Love" and Theme From Valley Of The Dolls", there are some tracks that settle into a nice soft lounge vibe without ever getting cheesy. In fact the Hammond organ solo on "The Look of Love" finishes the album quite nicely. Having recorded three amazing break-filled and heavily sampled records for the Cadet label, we hope we will be hearing more of Miss Ashby's harp grooves again real soon. Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Soul Vibrations"
MPEG Stream: "Afro-Harping"
MPEG Stream: "Little Sunflower"

ASHBY, DOROTHY The Rubaiyat Of Dorothy Ashby (Dusty Groove) cd 13.98
Man, are we ever so excited to get this title, Dorothy Ashby's third and most originally authorial album with Richard Evans, The Rubaiyat of Dorothy Ashby. Based on the mystical poetry of the eleventh century Persian astronomer, Omar Khayyam, Ashby has created ten original compositions that feature an array of far eastern instrumentation and for the first time, her voice. Sung and recited, sometimes in bewitched multi-vocal incantations, the mystical vibe is heightened by electrified harp, distorted kalimba and koto but grounded in the driving percussive and bass grooves of Richard Evans' majestic production which evokes Egyptian, Middle Eastern and Pan-Asian sensibilities. The opener, "Myself When Young," has the cinematic power of a James Bond ballad. Her voice, commanding but never over-powering, becomes more intriguing and mysterious as the album progresses, immersing us deeply into the esoteric cosmos of her muse. A truly magical record and it can't be recommended enough!
MPEG Stream: "Myself When Young"
MPEG Stream: "Wax & Wane"
MPEG Stream: "Joyful Grass & Grape"

ASHCROFT, RICHARD Alone With Everybody (Virgin) cd 15.98
Verve singer solo.

ASHER The Depths, The Colors, The Objects & The Silence (Mystery Sea) cd-r 17.98
Another gorgeously subdued missive from one of our favorite cd-r labels, Mystery Sea. Each release somehow fits into the label's focus on "night-ocean drones" whether literally, sonically, conceptually or spiritually. And every disc impeccably designed and packaged, the artwork as much a part of the art as the music inside. 
This installment (one of two on this week's list) comes from the East Coast, Massachusetts to be exact, from a one man band known only as Asher. One of the better-known artists to release a record on Mystery Sea, Asher, focuses on field recordings, processed and manipulated into fantastic minimal microlandscapes of sound, creating textures and melodies, spreading found sounds and bits of generated music into long-form, slow-moving near static drones. But closer examination reveals all sorts of subtle rhythms, and constantly changing tonal colors, deep swells and distant shimmers, keening slivers of amp skree, but smeared into glistens rather than glares, the sounds of people and things, barely visible through the glorious blurry fuzz. Really quite lovely. Very close listening is definitely required, but the listener will be suitably rewarded by a beautiful and haunting otherworld of sound. 
MPEG Stream: "Partly Framed In Sunlight"
MPEG Stream: "The Blue Gently Linked"

ASHES Hymn To A Grey Sky (Supernal.) cd 15.98
Another awesome Supernal release from a few years back that we never managed to review until now. Loyal AQ list readers should already be intrigued just based on the fact that some of our all time favorite black metal records and dark ambient drones have come courtesy of Supernal, Benighted Leams, Drudkh, Hate Forest, Dark Ages, Fall Of The Grey Winged One, Contra Ignem Fatuum and on and on. We're happy to report that Ashes fall into that category of black metal we just can't ever seem to get enough of, that freaked out midtempo, stumbling, damaged, demented, outsider black metal. Imagine Benighted Leams if they were a little dronier and a little more ambient, leaning a bit more toward Burzum instead of Darkthrone.
Weird warbly melancholy acoustic guitars, wavering keyboard ambience, totally fucked up drumming, spastic and stumbling, totally damaged drum programming, all wrapped in a blissed out stumbling black metal buzz, and topped off with some of the most fucked up vocals EVER, a guttural, super processed, creepy insectoid gurgle. Hymn To A Grey Sky is tracked as a single 47 minute track, which is usually annoying, but in this case, we can't imagine NOT listening to the whole thing at once. Long expanses of distant keyboards and simple martial drumming, buzzing loping Burzumic buzz with circusy keyboards way down in the mix, more of those creepy vocals draped over the top, dizzying confusional double bass drum programming, dreamy soft focus drone interludes, a big stretch right in the middle of the record of nature sounds, running water, insect buzz, birds chirping, rustling leaves before stumbling back into a killer midtempo buzz drenched black metal dirge, complete with muted classical guitars, some weird dark ambient In The Nursery style timpani and synthesizers, drifting into an almost new age coda to yet another one of the weirdest slabs of damaged blackness to come our way!
MPEG Stream: "Excerpt 1"
MPEG Stream: "Excerpt 2"
MPEG Stream: "Excerpt 3"

ASHES Yggrasil (Supernal) cd 15.98
Final release from longtime aQ favorites Ashes, a one man black metal band from the UK, whose particular brand of metal was decidedly damaged and demented. But a lot has changed in the 2+ years since Hymn To A Grey Sky. Here's how we described that record:
Weird warbly melancholy acoustic guitars, wavering keyboard ambience, totally fucked up drumming, spastic and stumbling, totally damaged drum programming, all wrapped in a blissed out stumbling black metal buzz, and topped off with some of the most fucked up vocals EVER, a guttural, super processed, creepy insectoid gurgle.
Sounds good. It is good. In fact one of our favorite discs on the always kick ass Supernal label. But here we are a few years on, and while many of those elements are still present in Ashes' sound, it's not nearly as fucked up or freaked out, which is not necessarily a bad thing, just different.
The opening track is a chunk of lilting acoustic folk, urgently strummed acoustic guitar, fluttering flute, a very dark and dreamy intro, until track two kicks in, and we're off! The rest of the record is a series of buzzing midtemo blasts of Burzumic lope, super simple riffs, the drums equally simple, pounding relentlessly, the vocals a more traditional demonic rasp, that sometimes turns into more of a hissy shriek, and even occasionally a Viking-like croon, in the background keyboards soar majestically, the melodies grandiose and epic, and thankfully the drums still have a bit of stumble in them, and the riffs seem to always break into a more dynamic weird sort of chug, before resuming their droning buzz. A gorgeous buzzing soundworld of foresty blackness, very reminiscent of Woodtemple and Graveland, but even more stripped down and simple.
And then there's the last song. Which sounds like NOTHING on the rest of the record, but is so weird and epic and doomy and gorgeously fucked up, we sort of wish there was a whole record of stuff like this. The drums a slow motion plod, the guitars not so much riffing as a constant blackened blur, thick whirring rumbling distorted bliss, totally washed out and dreamy, and so so so divinely droney. Then the vocals, a soaring clean croon, not growly or evil in the least, totally melodious and epic, singing a gorgeous hook, buried in the mix. Folks into all that new shoegaze black metal will go nuts for this track, almost worth it just for the one song alone, even though the rest of the record is pretty fantastic.
This marks the final release by Ashes, who are as of now defunct, but let's hope the man behind Ashes is working on new music, and let's hope it sounds like this final chunk of black bliss.
MPEG Stream: "Yggdrasil"
MPEG Stream: "Fenrir Unbound"
MPEG Stream: "A Darker Horizon"