ASAGRAUM "Dawn of Infinite Fire"

ASAGRAUM

"Dawn of Infinite Fire"

I will admit that I slept pretty badly on Holland's ASAGRAUM. Their first album slipped past me without a whisper and I was about to do the same with "Dawn of Infinite Fire" until I saw their video for "They Crawl From The Broken Circle" and was impressed. Now I've sampled the whole album and wow, these three women from the land of tulips and wooden sneakers are really a ferocious force in the world of black metal. A lot of all-female bands in extreme metal have a gimmicky feel (I could mention the name of one overhyped example but probably don't need to) but not ASAGRAUM. They totally understand the sound and the science of grim 90's style black metal.

Everything here...the production, the guitar tone, the vocals...demonstrates their knowledge of the form. "They Crawl From The Broken Circle" was just a taster..."The Lightless Inferno" kicks things up even more. This is not only blazingly fast and harsh, but it has that feeling of "evil sadness" that typifies the best Norwegian BM. "Abomination's "Altar" is even more brutal...this rivals anything by MARDUK, right down to the screaming witch-like vocals. "Hate of Satan's Hammer" is another MARDUK-like ballcrusher. But the ladies don't rely on this alone. .the title track and "Beyond The Black Vortex" show a more epic side and good use of droning dissonance. This last aspect sometimes gets overdone but ASAGRAUM's touch is just right. Pretty much everything here is vicious and dark.

The last cut "Waar ik ben komt de dood" is one of two featuring all Dutch lyrics and is the one track that tries something a little different with cleaner, more moaning kind of singing. I can't say I like it better than the harsher stuff, but the song is still good and it shows they can experiment.

This is something that nobody into second-wave black metal can afford to pass up. ASAGRAUM is not a gimmick band but just a great BM band in general.

EDGED CIRCLE PRODUCTIONS

ASAGRAUM