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Doom-metal: a genre that strikes more fear into the hearts of the general music audience (i.e., anyone with ears), and despite adoration from scenesters and petulant indie critics alike remains one clogged with more rehashed ideas and half-arsed attempts than most others. Scraping the depths of the (thinly painted) barrel come Asva.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m no blanket hater of 'the doom'. I'm not gonna deny the mercurial brilliance of early Anathema, or the cloistering, unrelenting dominance of Boris' more glacial output. But the futility of What You Don't Know Is Frontier is almost immeasurable. What the Long Beach, California septet have created over four tracks spanning nearly 70 minutes reads like a collection of Sunn O))) riffs structured in reverse.
But whilst the doom overlords utilise a slow-slow build to conjure an unsettling atmosphere, Asva merely fade into nothing, losing any ambience with each rotation. 'A Game In Hell, Hard Work In Heaven, the penultimate track, marries the band’s eternal dirge to wailed eastern-flavoured vocals, a prospect more interesting than the rest of the full-length’s static landscape, but an idea realised much more coherently by Holy Roar's Bloody Panda. In the end any slight left turn leads further along the straight-road of mediocrity.
Imagine a masterpiece by the godfathers of the riff, retraced every day since its creation around 30 years, or two eras, ago, losing depth and visibility, and stretching further in time, with each copy. Imagine it; this vision is more than enough. An exercise of creative procrastination masquerading unsuccessfully as majestic restraint.
Asva
More Asva
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Supersonic 2008: the DiS review
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Asva - What You Don't Know Is Frontier
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Asva at Thekla Social, Bristol, Avon, Thu 01 Sep
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Share on FacebookI really enjoyed them at Supersonic
they were absurdly loud.
Incorrect.
8/10.
Incorrect that I enjoyed them
or incorrect review? Or did enjoy them incorrectly?!
Incorrect review.
They are fucking loud live - they are the first band in my life that actually made me wear ear-plugs.
No kidding
when they stopped playing I wobbled around for a good few seconds, really lost my balance. And the guitarist looks like a cool 70s scarecrow. They've got a lot going for them.
one of the highlights of Supersonic
for me. I had to lie down and couldn't walk properly once I got up. I'm sure that's a good thing.
they were one of the highlights of supersonic
and its just lazy jouralism to compare all doom bands to sunn o)))
This album is great for a dark night on your own.
Aye
they were incredible live and this one is better than the last album. They sound nowt like Sunn either although it's probs fair to compare them as the main Asva guy was actually a part of Sunn a while ago.
foals do drone
sunn arent what i would call doom anyway, going back to Sunn's other related bands (before art wank sites like this teehee didnt KNOW what doom and sludge was) see Thorrs Hammer etc.
and then go old school like Candlemass, Cathedral, Trouble etc...
St fucking Vitus.
none of this typical Sunn related stuff...it gets boring. Infact, the modern press have put me off O'Malley and Southern Lord stuff.
i bet Foals will do a drone album next.
More likely...
...that Foals will say that they're influenced by drone on their next album, but will contnue to sound like a third rate The Rapture.
Poor review. 8/10 album.
To say it's derivative of Sunn O))) is way off the mark. They're pushing in their own direction in this genre rather than straight copying the doom/drone template. And I'm finding it's revealing a lot more with each listen rather than "fading into nothing" as stated in the review.
On the mention of the "wailed eastern-flavoured vocals" - give the first album a listen to see how this is done more effectively.
I think seeing the band at the Underworld last month helped me appreciate the album more though. They were immense.
A vs A?
Angels Vs Airwaves?
it seems
i just disagree with you? i honestly dont think they are doing anything new. maybe you do. perhaps you could tell me what that is.
it dosent make it a bad review anyway. no, my writing style makes it a bad review.
you really think
they sound nothing like Sunn?
im very surprised
there's no mention of ASVA's guitarist, trey spruance, formerly of mr bungle, faith no more (albeit very briefly) and currently in the very excellent secret chiefs 3 (who'll be in the uk in september!!).
Well not 'nothing' like them
but they are different. It's like comparing two bands that just use the same drumbeat or something.
I'm throwing 'nowt' around like it's going out of fashion. Typing in an accent. Stupid.
Perhaps I was hasty in my use of the word "poor"
Or it was reactionary to the score. But rather than say it was a bad review I would say I disagree with the sentiments of it and a couple of the points made. But different tastes and all so it's all cool.
And are Asva doing something new? Not completely, but they do have a distinctive sound within an admittedly limiting genre and I always feel they are pushing at the boundaries of it. Which is important and enjoyable to hear. That opinion is based on both albums though, and is the best way I can answer the question of newness at the moment.
Despite the score you gave it's nice to see a review of this album on here though.
Wow
"An exercise of creative procrastination masquerading unsuccessfully as majestic restraint."
The writer in this case has no idea how much creative energy went into this recording and also doesn't seem to understand that an idea sometimes takes different turns over the years, evolving, devolving. I could use William Gass's novel 'The Tunnel' which literally did take 30 years to finish as an example. Not everybody will understand or even like the record I wrote and we, Asva, recorded and I more than anyone understand that; but this last little dig is a bit of a slap JD:
"An exercise of creative procrastination masquerading unsuccessfully as majestic restraint."
Criticism is one thing but to imply laziness? Well fuck you. To paraphrase Igor Markin- 'Come on then... buy yourself an amp and a guitar, write some music, spend some money and record your music, and see if you've done it better.' What you don't get is there's no such thing as better, only different. 4/10? I couldn't care less.
amazed by this review
ignorant rubbish dressed up with some fancy empty phrases and a few lazy name checks
the last paragraph is fairly astounding though and how you manage to cap it off with such passive negativity is telling.
I think you realize the amazing beauty and colossal scope of this album beneath it all. Just change losing to gaining in the last paragraph (not going to even mention the last line) and I think you might be onto something
Lyrics
BTW... those lyrics aren't flavored Eastern. Thats the real deal.
Seriously disagree with the poor man's sunn gist of the article
I really don't see that at all.
But calling bloody panda's tongue and cheek 'easternisms' as more coherent than the vocals on this album..is frankly insulting.
It's like saying "all this dead can dance gibberish nothing compared to the authentic ethnic tones of Paul Simon"
In Photos: Monotonix @ Hector's House, Brighton
In Photos: The Specials @ Hammersmith Apollo, London
In Photos: Camden Crawl Launch Event @ The Blues Kitchen, London
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