Aosoth is a project from vocalist & lyricist MkM (the founder of Antaeus), but while Antaeus sets boundaries for violent, grinding black metal, Aosoth delivers more dissonant and 90's death metal elements. Here he works with guitarist & producer Bst (The Order Of Apollyon, VI), bassist INRVI (the founder & mastermind of VI) and Saroth (Hell Militia, Temple of Baal) on second guitar. Drums were provided on a session basis by T. Seen as the closing chapter of a concept that has been raised in the last two albums, the recordings took nearly three years and were interrupted by many events in the personal lives of MkM and Bst. At one point, the album was about to be abandoned and never released.
But, it is here, and we should all be thankful that it finally made the light of day (well night, as this is not the sort of music that should be played in the Summer sunshine, but under a full moon). This album is a black and death metal hybrid, veering very much to the dark and raw style, although the more symphonic and atmospheric elements are also important as they definitely allow the brutality to shine through; just listen to the second song, “Her Feet Upon The Earth, Blooming The Fruits” to see what I mean. This is raw, aggressive and full of venom and power, as far removed from the likes of atmospheric Burzum as one could imagine, yet supposedly somehow still with the same genre. INRVI’s bass is a force to be reckoned with, while T. is determined to smash his kit to pieces and the guitar somehow manage to keep everything going while MkM is the master of all he sees. Blackened death metal rarely gets any better than this. Superb.
