Aasgard - Morbid Celestial Desecration (2012)

Aasgard has sat silently in the background of the Hellenic black metal scene since their inception, and it's not hard to reason why: the aesthetics they choose to render on their releases are born more of a devotion to the raw, baseline 90s Scandinavian 2nd wave ethos than the more distinguished, glorious, melodic/occult metal woven into the Greek masters Rotting Christ, Varathron, Spectral Lore, and more recently something even further out like Hail Spirit Noir. Theirs is a musical choice which runs not so much off ideas as it does an adherence to a code of sound, a stereotype, and due to that fact, their debut and EPs just never ranked all that highly with me. Competent, yes, and there is certainly an unshaking audience for that old school appeal, borne on wings of nostalgia and loyalty, one I don't actually exempt myself from. But that comes with the condition that the riffs are played with such menace or atmosphere or just raw memorable note construction that I can't resist it, and Aasgard just hasn't foot that bill...

Unfortunately, for a large fraction of Morbid Celestial Desecration, that remains the case. Raw and searing patterns of chords strung out against a melancholic, warlike backdrop where the repetition of the rhythm guitar alone is chiefly responsible for cultivating the atmosphere, all traced back to the obvious sources like Bathory, Mayhem, Gorgoroth, Burzum, Carpathian Forest, Hellhammer or other European legends, without the novelty or charisma. There is marginal crossover appeal for fans of other epic Greek black metal outfits like Nocternity or Macabre Omen, only this duo just doesn't seem to establish that same level of mood...the harsh chord progressions too often feel predictable and rarely go anywhere adventurous, to the point that once they throw in a left hook like the clean guitars sequence in "Beliefs of Native Gods" it automatically shines by default. On the other hand, Aasgard at least varies up the material so that a largely surging, blast-supported piece is followed up by a slower, tortured, depressive black metal number ("Supplication to the Immortals" an example) where there is more emphasis on making the vocal rasp sound like its being pitched at you through a drainage system. But even there, I just kept waiting for something musically compelling to stand forth and it was ever more of the same.

Morbid Celestial Desecration occasionally feels like a record patched together across a number of recording sessions, with the tones slightly altered between guitars and vocal timbres, but while that usually works against such material, here it did provide a distraction and prevent the tunes from growing overly monotonous in succession. I enjoyed the intonation of the chants in the title cut, and other small nuances spread over the 38 minute like the chilling, noisy instrumental "Infernal Virtues". The vocals are generally nasty and well fit to the songcraft. Truthfully, I even felt like the production was stronger and clearer than some of their efforts I've covered in the past, a sign of some maturation. But then the drums feel rather stock, bass lines out to pasture (if they were ever there to begin with, I definitely can't discern them), and so much of the actual riffing uninspired to the point that it sometimes feels like the band itself doesn't really care for them. It's clearly not beyond Aasgard's ken to perform early 90s black metal with the purest intentions, but there is simply not enough weaponry here to compete with hundreds of similar bands who just have a knack for putting riffs together in a way that you'll care what follows them.

That aside, I didn't mind a few spins through this. It's not exactly lazy per se, it does strive for more mood, and its stronger than what I can remember on their last output, but even with this vivacious, hellish-cold contrast mix it seems rather complacently magnetized to the past...static and unable to move forward. That might prove a boon for some black metal listeners who live as anathema to any sort of progression or consistently 'likeable' quality in their music, but even then, that sort of aesthetic antagonism has been better mastered elsewhere.

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10]

https://www.facebook.com/aasgard.gr

Aasgard - Nekriki Mistagogia EP (2011)

When Aasgard's latest effort opened with an ambient piece set to a sample from Zach Snyder's 300 film, I admit to being surprised, but thankfully the Greeks jerked me straight back out of this reception and into the primal, tumultuous decay of their black metal material. Still, there is something subdued about Nekriki Mistogogia, as they seem to have cut down on the blatant belligerence and gone for an aesthetic of raw, distant glory. The guitars here are more tightly composed than those of Ravens Hymns Foreshadows the End. the year prior, the vocals more level and the drumming fairly concrete, but the patterns of notation seem more wrought of sadness than spite, at least on about half the tracks.

"Call to War" is the aforementioned intro, and then the band rips into "The Beginning of the Fall" which is grimy but steady black metal propulsion with its roots in the same well as their previous material, only with a more clapping, ringing undercurrent of percussion. "The Search for a Glorious Death" is perhaps the most melodic of the metal tracks, with a lot of thundering double bass and longing, wall of sound chords drifting against the backdrop. The title track is where it becomes more ponderous and solemn, though the style is not a deviation from the previous cuts, and "The Day Who the Gods Will Marching Again to Earth" is mostly more of the same, though there's still that air of determination and seriousness that one didn't really get from the last album, and a good, booming bridge march riff. Closing the release is "Nekropobi", a clean but blaring guitar piece with ambient samples of crows, rain, storm, and so forth.

Some of the small handful of fans familiar with the band might be taken aback by this more focused, less vicious material, but it's still quite heavy in the end, and it's not as if they have jumped ship for high quality production. Nekriki Mistagogia simply seems more aired out and thoughtful than the violent misanthropy of its predecessor, and that's not a bad thing unless you were expecting more of the Greeks' Beherit, Archgoat and VON-styled filth. Anyway, the same criticism applies to this material as their prior output: I just don't find the guitars that bewitching, and everything feels samey to a large population of other underground acts playing in that primitive, necrotic and 'grim' fashion. I don't mind the oft jumbled tones or the clamor of the drums crashing beneath the gnarled vocals, but there's little notation that stands out. Okay if you want a thundering, black metal backdrop, but not exceptional by any means.

Verdict: Indifference [6/10]

http://aasgard.webs.com/

Aasgard - Ravens Hymns Foreshadows the End. (2010)

Aasgard's 2008 EP Nyx was nothing special, but it did offer a filthy and repulsive take on the Norse formula black metal that has inspired countless thousands of acts to take up the corpse paint and go howling through the dark. It's followup, Ravens Hymns Foreshadows the End, might seem an exercise in poor pluralization, but at least it's rugged, raw, and pissed off to the point of hilarity. Continuing their crude approach to production, they've created a clamor of primal black rock riffing to accompany the ridiculous but direct nature of the lyrics. Aasgard fucking hates everything, and this full-length debut, while the antithesis of a musical marvel, at least gets that part right!

I mean, just look at some of these lyrics: 'to rape your fucking god is my desire/fuck your god/Jehovah has my penis in his ass/whores/you are only bastard shit of rats and worms.' The Greeks are not fucking around here, sugarcoating nothing, letting it all 'hang out', all that venom and seething vitriol, and no Christian or Hebrew shall be spared. As cheesy and unrefined as this might seem, it's at least not hiding anything. You know where you stand with Aasgard, even if that means standing at the wrong end of a sword. Musically, however, the album sort of slips into the same banal monotony of so many others. The songs seem to cycle between mid paced dirty rocking fare ("Sodomized the Slave of the God", "Elevation of Satanic Lore") and streaming blasts of chaos ("Rising Swords in Paganland", "Tragos adi eis mnimi necron"). The way I hear this, since I can't really expect much in the way of intricate or memorable riffing, than the grimier the better, and here that is "Goatwar", which provides quite a racket of evil despite it's languid gait.

Let me be clear: Ravens Hymns... will not hold an appeal for anyone seeking the symphonic of the enlightened side of black metal (though the intro and finale involve some dark ambiance). It's as primitive as they come, mirroring bands like Von or Beherit in their formative years more than Emperor or even Burzum. This is spiteful, inept and unforgiving aggression from a pair of dudes who just don't give a shit. If that forms a basis for your listening needs, then by all means, grit your teeth and bear this. Personally, the one thing holding me back from enjoyment was not the threatening lyrics or the raw tone, but the absolute lack of distinctive guitar riffs of any sort. At heart, I'm a metal guy, and with very few exceptions, I need those guitars to do something worth my attention. This is not that sort of metal: it wants to kill you, not impress you. But as fun as that might sound, it doesn't always make the music worthwhile.

Verdict: Indifference [6.25/10] (flaming under frozen stars)

http://aasgard.webs.com/

Aasgard - Nyx EP (2008)

Somewhat comparable to Grab's debut album Plague... from the same year, Aasgard strives to grasp the second wave black metal medium by its scrotum and breathe sickness once again into its stagnant, decaying testes. However, this duo goes about it with a more organic feel to their writing, anchored by solid and meandering melodies and pummeling drum beats which almost sound like they are in a separate dimension to the distorted fabric of the guitars and the salacious, rasping drawl of the vocalist. They incorporate some degree of variation into their tempos and tones, and I can say that few of the five songs here sound exactly the same, but a lot of the blast sequences do become monotonous in time.

I'll point out that four of the tracks feel flush from the same recording sessions, but the bonus "Battle Within" is actually culled from the previous year's demo Behold. This tune has a more understated, acidic primacy to it, truly grisly and raw and not so much comparable to the rest. I rather prefer the lucid crawl of "Splendour of the Barbaric Winter" as it accelerates into fevered warfare, or "As I Walk the Steps of Death" for the fuzzed out bass that slices through the stream of coagulated blood that is the guitar line. I also enjoy how they bounce the rhythm guitars off to one barely audible side of the mix, while the melody cuts straight down the middle. It gives the feel of some churning, grimy cemetery mud. Alas, there are points in "Obliterated from All Passions, Standing Above Myself, Near Myself" and elsewhere when the drums seem to almost fall off the rhythm-rails, and ultimately there are no individual guitar lines that truly stand to attention.

Nyx is another of a thousand or so European black metal recordings which I can deem no more than just 'okay'. They've got a good grasp of their genre, they know how to implement dirty sounds over rugged, lo-fi production and they can, in general play their instruments. The lyrics aren't half-bad and the atmosphere of requisite oppression is evident. They certainly follow in the mold of records like Transilvanian Hunger, Nattens Madrigal and Burzum, but they never quite step outside that box of derivation, nor do they match or surpass any of the hundreds of records that have successfully shaped this style. But this isn't a bad start.

Verdict: Indifference [6.25/10] (how treasonous tongues poison)

http://aasgard.webs.com/