Scottish band Ashenspire was conceived in 2013 by Alasdair Dunn (drums, vocals) and Mitchell Morrison, who had worked together in experimental black metal trio Enneract. Per their biography “the aim was to create music that showed a more realistic picture of what the United Kingdom truly represents, looking at less savoury and more recent elements of its history. Bizarre nostalgia for antiquity had no place – this was a probing and judicial examination of domestic and global atrocity, of the avarice of empire and the apathy for fellow man.” Mitchell left, to be replaced by Fraser Gordon (guitars), James Johnson (violin, percussion) and Petri Simonen (bass). Yes, you did read that correctly, here we have a black metal outfit who is using a violinist. On top of that, the singer describes his performance as “Sprechgesang”, as it is virtually a spoken form as opposed to sung, which means that the lyrics can be understood, and the venom is real.
The band say that they are inspired by jazz fusion, the avant-garde metal tradition of bands such as A Forest of Stars, Vulture Industries and Dødheimsgard, and most importantly the progressive and experimental rock of Devil Doll from Slovenia. The result is an album that is divisive and dramatic, that many people are going to dismiss as being too “out there” and just plain weird, yet strange people like me find this incredibly powerful and compelling. This is music at the cutting edge of what many view as black metal, and the haunting violin combined with the repeated musical motifs from the guitar and the unusual vocals make for uncomfortable listening at time. This is certainly only for those are more musically adventurous, and I suggest listening to the album first at their Bandcamp site before plunging in with both ears, but I’m glad I did.
https://ashenspire.bandcamp.com/album/speak-not-of-the-laudanum-quandary-2
