Black Metal band Asaru has an irregular history. Having operated between 1995 and 2007 in Germany, the vocalist moved to Norway and re-formed the band in 2009. I didn’t hear the original incarnation but I imagine there’s not too much difference as “From the Chasms of Oblivion” has a decidedly old-school feel about it.

Fiery Black Metal begins the piece with a hooky riff. “The Eyes of the Dead” then returns to the gates of hell. It creeps and crawls, it’s black and vicious and once again the Swedish-style riff comes back. The ending is in epic style. So there’s plenty there. “At Night They Fly” has a Mayhem-type beginning. The portents are of death and doom. The stove is fired up, so much so that black thrash metal comes out of the melting pot. It doesn’t stay like this. The shop steadies and the vocalist continues to spew his bile to a beastly beat. The guitar has an air of majesty. “At Night They Fly” gives of the image of circulating death.

“Under the Flag” is hard, technical and once again thrashy. A colourful riff lies underneath it all. But I was finding this heavy going in every sense. There are nine tracks and after the first two I wasn’t getting anything more out of this album. “Blind Obedience” is another tale of punishment, if the music is anything to go by. There is a swinging regularity which gives way to more furious mayhem (this time with a small “m”). “Fortapt I Dødens Favn” and the later “Invoking the Serpent of Death” have no special qualities. It’s indistinguishable extreme metal, which rumbles along belligerently. Some are thrashy, some are slower like the overwhelmingly heavy “Nebel”, but for me it got lost in a lack of atmosphere. “Beyond the Bonds of Time” gives us more technical, meandering thrash combined with straight old-school, unmelodic black metal. There’s nastiness at all levels. Maybe I’m being greedy and stingy but there’s nothing extra to capture me. Another Mayhem-style rhythm opens up the final track “World on Fire”. It swings blackly, preaching hatred and darkness in doing so before cranking up to generate a bit of turbulence. The track breaks into a steady but not slow passage. It changes but not by much, and continues without any apparent aim or purpose before fading out.

I was in such torpor after listening to this album that I relayed my findings to the guy in the local coffee shop, who’s serious about his music. “It’s an experience”, was his response. Yes, but not one that I’m desperate to repeat. “From The Chasms of Oblivion” will appeal to those who want a strong dose of technical black metal with a good deal of thrash. Good as example of its genre as it might be, I found it hard going. It has power and passion but nothing really happens and for me it just went through the expected motions without progressing an inch further after the first couple of tracks. There are examples of this kind of black metal out there and more original and inspiring ones at that.

(4 / 10 Andrew Doherty)

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