Aset emerges from chaos.
Created in the greatest secrecy by members of Seth and Oranssi Pazuzu, the band signs with Les Acteurs De L’Ombre Productions to offer us Astral Rape, their debut album.
The album opens with the mystical sounds of A Light In Disguise, which immediately develops its ritualistic, dissonant ambience before welcoming the raucous vocal parts. Raw Black Metal roots blend easily with eerie Egyptian influences while remaining extremely aggressive, before letting Abusive Metempsychosis add a ghostly touch by linking distant vocal parts with scathing melodies. The almost relentless surge brings together fury and a solid basis, before slowing down to set more majestic tones before slowly fading out to make way for A New Man For A New Age, which is immediately more threatening in its vocals. The instrumental part is much darker, feeding oppression topped by raw eruptions and disturbing melodies, then the band returns to much more virulent tones on Lord Of Illusions, which skilfully blends heaviness with a fast-paced rhythm. The contrast between the heady elements and the various vocal parts is also important for the hypnotic hazy atmosphere that leads us to Astral Dominancy and its eerie touches that are definitely anchored in visceral Old School roots. Some slower and more impressive parts shade the violence before it resurfaces to lead us to Force Majeure, which offers a different take on ritualistic sounds. Fury is never far away on this short, suffocating track, which gives way to Serpent Concordat, the album’s final composition, which combines tormented dissonance with a frantic approach that perfectly suits the heterogeneity of the aggressive, sometimes even jerky riffs that accompany us right up to the final moments.
Beyond a raw sound with melodies woven between Black Metal and Egyptian influences, Aset introduces us with Astral Rape a mental concept as occult as it is fascinating, offering an interesting double reading of the album.
85/100