It’s usually a good sign when an album contains a church bell tolling in the distance: “For Whom the Bell Tolls” by Metallica and “Warriors of Modern Death” By Emperor and of course Iron Maiden’s “Hallowed Be Thy Name”. That’s just three that come to mind and yeah, there’s so many others but I’m here to talk about Barshasketh and their fifth album Antinomian Asceticism.

The bell tolls once before the blast comes storming in with “Radiant Aperture” a harbinger of the unholy blackness yet to come, with a mid-point slow down to add to the intensity on display; it’s a great way to start off this brutal Black Metal beast.

Clocking in at a respectable 43:30 Antinomian Asceticism doesn’t overstay it’s welcome and that means that each song breathes with malicious intent. “Nitimur in Vetitum” carries on within the miasma of evil; it’s a bit Lord Belial meets Dark Funeral and it jibes incredibly well with the time changes that Barshasketh throw in to keep things interesting.

This album was Recorded by GM at Sonorous Studio and Necromorbus Studio. Mixed and mastered by Tore Stjerna at Necromorbus Studio with front cover by Rodrigo Pereira Salvatierra, additional illustrations and layout by Fenomeno Design. Antinomian Asceticism sounds fantastic, it manages to blow you away while lulling you into a hypnotic state of being peering into lands beyond our own.

“Lebenswelt Below” adds a bit of Rebel Extravaganza era Satyricon and some “Filthgrinder” riffing that is out of this world amazing, it’s easily my favorite song on Antinomian Asceticism, and it’s forceful attack is continued on “Charnel Quietism” a suitably bombastic rumbler that gets a bit thrashy before the track ends.

“Phaneron Engulf” and the title track bring the metered-out devastation, adding some killer ambient effects that add depth and emotion to an otherwise raging Black Metal symphony. Once “Exultation of Ceaseless Defiance” comes rising through the speakers with it’s frozen delivery and it ends the album in grandiose fashion.

With this fifth album in their discography, Barshasketh should be making themselves known by now in the USA (or maybe they are and I’m just oblivious), either way they’re a band that needs to be on your radar; constant reader. So if you like Satyricon, Drudkh, Primordial or a more polished Carpathian Forest; plus the Lord Belial and Dark Funeral references, Barshasketh is the band for you!

 

 

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