“Causa Sui” is this French band’s debut album. It took four years to make it. Ahasver, as well as being the name of the band, is the mythical immortal man. The only way to translate this in any way to the album is to listen to it so that’s what I did. If you’re looking for a musical hook, they tell us that this might appeal to followers of Mastodon, Gojira and Machine Head.
Dark, thunderous drum work greets us. The tone is ominous. Ahasver’s sound is expansive and accordingly the atmosphere is threatening. I read terms like groove, progressive metal and sludge to describe this band’s music. In my book it’s metalcore. More important than this is the fact that it’s dynamic and exciting. “Fierce”, the dramatic opener, captures attention. “Peace” has a more technical death element to it. Without doubt the intrusive sound is doing this big favours. Cleverly intertwined is a haunting clean chorus before it sets off on a furiously dark mission. It’s an intriguing mix. I’m not sure where peace comes into it though, in fact the core lyric is “pain is everything”, although I guess “let me live in …” suggests peace in the sense of release from suffering. Ahasver hit buttons again with “Dust”, another powerful song with stylistic elements of Soilwork, tinges of Uneven Structure and most definitely Gojira. I imagine that Ahasver might be a hugely dynamic live band. Their music has layers and energy, and has pomp and authority without being a simple slave to appearance.
These songs have substance. Featuring hard-punching groove lines, the vocalist’s raucous tones remind me of Disbelief’s Karsten Jäger and Gojira’s Joe Duplantier. They fit the metal bill nicely. The musicianship is tight and the choruses are hooky, providing an audience-friendly listen. “Wrath” has the thunderous anger that you might expect. It is enhanced by evil and menacing guitars, pounding drums and expansive sound effects. “Path” is less subtle and an all-out assault, but Ahasver cleverly insert breaks to keep us thinking. The clean chorus provides the message although that message isn’t clear other than the narrator is in a state of loneliness and agony. Good song though, with a great structure, twists and turns like a djenty element and intense energy which is a feature of all these songs. “Sand” takes a deeper stance. “I’m buried in the sand … I can’t breathe” is the obvious line but this intense song expresses this sentiment and more. Again, I am fleetingly reminded of Uneven Structure on this most atmospheric heavy metal piece. Finally, “Kings” pulls it all together – heaviness, epic structures, a chorus which pulls at us, power, atmosphere. Basically, it’s a rousing song which gets the blood racing. The long narration at the end took the edge of it a little for me, but the band would no doubt justify that by reference to the theme. The problem, if indeed it is a problem, was that I was so hyped up by the music that I lost any sense of the theme other than its most basic message.
“Causa Sui” at its simplest level is a fine collection of metal songs, except that they are so much more than just that. These songs are constructed in a way that they are full of exciting twists and layers. Many of them are anthemic in nature. The overriding style is of modern metal but such are the layers and transformations that there is a distinct progressive element to. “Causa Sui” is slick, aggressive and I used the word earlier: dynamic. For sure the point of reference here is Gojira but let’s give credit to Ahasver. I got a lot of pleasure and enjoyment from listening to this album.
(8.5/10 Andrew Doherty)
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