Asva ‘What You Don’t Know Is Frontier’ CD 2008

Not a record for passive consumption was something I read in a recent review for this the latest Asva album, and I’d say that is very true. The four huge, dark and brooding tracks on offer here demand attention and submergence, this would not do as background music.

Title and opener ‘What You Don’t Know Is Frontier’ kicks off with a sinister droning riff which is soon joined by eerie guitar and Hammond organ that twists and weaves around the main riff like a freezing mist, rising and falling with hope and despair. As the track progresses and builds, a slight black metal feel seems to become apparent, I kept expecting some distant otherworldly screams to come drifting out of the darkness. ‘Christopher Columbus’ appears like some huge lumbering beast calling for a lost mate, while bathed in shimmering and swirling cymbal, before rising in volume and yearning, finally, being brought to its knees by some unexpected savage truth.

A Game In Hell…’ is epic. Starting with soothing guitar and organ, these are soon joined by hauntingly beautiful female vocal, delivered in some exotic foreign tongue, gradually becoming heavier and darker before eventually drifting into hardcore doom and despair, with the guitar and organ providing some truly sombre melodies, suddenly the tempo is upped and the music takes on a defiant black metal feel before fading gradually away.

Finally, ‘A Trap For Judges’ is a 23 minute doom laden beast of a song. It’s a tranquilized rollercoaster of heavy riffs, sinister vibes and effects which pummels you all the way. Eventually the track mellows into a final organ section which closes the proceedings admirable.

Label: Southern Records
Website: www.myspace.com/asvaband

Scribed by: Mark Burns