Astaroth Incarnate - Ascendence

Astaroth is a demon associted with the phoenician goddess Astarte an equivalent of the Babylonian Ishtar, and the earlier Sumerian Inanna. In demonology, Astaroth is described a male demon being consider the Great Duke of Hell. Dutch demonologist Johann Weyer also described Astaroth in his Pseudomonarchia Daemonum (1577) thus: “Astaroth is a great and a strong duke, coming forth in the shape of a foul angel, sitting upon an infernal dragon, and carrying on his right hand a viper”, who also claimed to rule 40 legions, and had to be approached by the conjurer with a magical ring on account of his stinking breath. Also, it is a very common name for Metal bands. The reasons are obvious, aren’t they?

I wrote all this because although “Ascendence” is an EP with only three tracks of an average of five minutes long, the music within shows the combination of both cited above. Envolved by a Power/Speed Metal clothing, Astaroth Incarnate mix some kinds of vocals that enrich a lot the experience of the fan with their music. I recognized at least three types of vocals both male and female embelished by a cruel but effective and intricate instrumental. In terms of music planning and variety, “Ascendence” is the kind of album that may impress every type of fan. The choice of titles to the songs is also interesting and bold because two songs are named “I Am Fire – I Am Death” with the diferential of the first being Alpha and the later Omega. Interesting choice of words. The other song is named “Her Ghost In The Fog” which would common an uninteresting, but there is the fact thast the song is a cover. No, no surprise in that except the fact that the song is a cover of Astaroth Incarnate. Do you know them?

I consider “Ascendence” to be that avant-garde music that I wrote about in my article here “Black Metal: the avant-garde of Metal.” The thing is that Astaroth Incarnate can’t be simply considered Black Metal. They are much more with lots of other Metal music influences which enrich the album with moods and atmospheres. I confess that this dialetic of vocals playing with extremes and controversies really catch me. I dare to say that it is the feature that atracts me the most in Moden Extreme Metal and the first thing that drove me to appreciating it.

P.S. – Later I discovered that is a “Her Ghost In The Fog” Cradle of Filth cover. Sorry, my bad! I can’t keep all the names of songs of all bands in this Metal world, can I?

Astaroth Incarnate “Ascendence” will be self-released on December 06th.

Track Listing: