ALTAR OV ASTERIA – Éna

vote
7.5

• Bands:
  ALTAR OV ASTERIA
• Duration: 00:34:00
• Available from: 11/26/2024
• Label:

• Dusktone

With “The birth of tragedy from the spirit of music”, Friedrich Nietzsche smeared with blood the candid imagination that Winkelmann, Mengs and Hegel had built around ancient Greece: hitting like a cyclone on the immaculate statues and on the mythologised rationality of idealists and neoclassicists, Nietzsche showed the dark, truculent and tragic side of the Hellenic tradition, emphasizing its primitive and violent traits.
This Dionysian Greece emerges among the suggestions that Altar Ov Asteria, an anonymous duo from Dresden made up of musicians already active in the local scene, wanted to condense in their debut album “Éna”. An album that emphasizes, at least on an aesthetic level, a certain reference to the Greek world (Asteria is the mother of the dark goddess Hecate), but which weaves its own atmospheres starting from a more complex mixture of historical reality and fiction, occultism and literature.
On a musical level, Altar Ov Asteria decisively play the dramatic card, focusing on dense and very dark atmospheres that recall the works of Nergal and Jön Nodtveidt. In particular, Behemoth's lesson emerges throughout almost the entire album: it can be perceived in the captivating melodic solutions, in certain descents towards infernal whirlpools almost congested with sound, but also in the singer's performance, very profound and theatrical. On this basis, the German duo has grafted an old school gothic component – almost like a soundtrack to horror films of yesteryear – and some 80's vibes, building a convincing and non-trivial sound. The most representative pieces of this proposal are probably the good “Hesperus”, perhaps the most successful synthesis of the influences mentioned, and the opener “Arroganz”, a roller coaster of impactful riffs and unpredictable digressions.
Precisely “Arroganz”, however, also lends itself to what, in our opinion, is a limit in Altar Ov Asteria's songwriting, i.e. the sometimes somewhat dispersive structure of the songs which occasionally extinguishes the climax. However, this does not affect the final result too much, since “Éna” does not linger in fillers and does not present any real dead moments.
In this regard, we would also like to praise the choice to limit the length of the album for the benefit of the substance, which in this work is really chewed up until the last minute: the album in fact ends with two pieces of great effect, perhaps among the most incisive of the whole platter. “Kataklysm”, also chosen as a single, is a furious invocation shouted in the chaos of the elements, interspersed with poignant melodic openings. “Pilatus”, on the other hand, descends from one of the most 'Norwegian' passages of the album towards a long recitative in German, which when least expected explodes in a very tense and explosive finale.
A debut to keep an eye on, which leaves you with the curiosity to hear how this interesting project will evolve. And a 'well done' also for Dusktone, who adds another good listen to those he offered us in 2024.