Asenblut
Berserker
(AFM Records)
Power – there are infinite forms of it. Imagined, rope-pulling-ish, self-inflicting, overwrought, wise, and even inversed. You get a whole ocean of it when swaying through the blustery waves of heavy metal. It can be hidden—manifested with a craft, logic, and guise that is highly effective and tasteful. It can be blatant and obscene. And it can even be accidentally parodied, where a sort of hidden pocket of depth appears where it didn’t before. Sort of like a black hole.
Germany’s power-thrash-pagan-hybrid Asenblut eschews an external sort of tough-guy power metal. They appear very serious, and probably are. Except under this crafty disguise, these guys are actually a lot of fun. I’m not sure if it’s by accident or on purpose, but these guys slay through all the clichés of metal and come out on top. Not an easy task.
For best results, I’d say go blaze one and then take a cruise around town blasting their newest release Berserker, and you’ll get what I’m saying. It’ll be a joyful trip: a fun sort of goofy will be had—slamming and pumping hard. Mystical Vikings be damned, this is modern kitchen metal, and owes more to the ideology of speed, than hunky blunt-force type stuff.
Check out “Titanenerbe”, and you’ll find a complex pattern of progression, bluster, and looseness. This is a good song to delve into the depths that Asenblut offer: a reflexive dimension, a black metal third eye, and an oversight of sculptural rendition—that is, in their apparent mixing of aesthetic, they’ve found a valley of their own. And when a band finds their own comfy nest way up in some lofty heights—well, there they are…. and there they rip. Asenblut rips.
Purchase Berserker here: North America | Europe
