An uncanny duo aims at balancing visceral energy with enveloping atmosphere and dark melody, creating a sound both rooted in Black Metal tradition and expansive new avantgarde sounds in their debut album.
Established by two girls from the Dresden area, Satyra and Melpomene, both heavily involved in the rich local underground, German Black Metal duo Altar Ov Asteria aims at balancing visceral energy with enveloping atmosphere and dark melody, creating a sound both rooted in Black Metal tradition and expansive new avantgarde sounds, which is exactly what you’ll get in their debut opus Éna. Displaying a classic artwork by Last Light Designs, Éna (which most probably means a girl’s name of Irish origin with multiple meanings, including “ardent,” “little fire,” “kernel,” “grain,” and “peace”) offers a bold and austere atmosphere thoroughly crafted by the mysterious duo, already carving their names in the German Black Metal scene and leaving us eager for more of their visceral creations.
Their infernal riffs come in full force in the opening tune Arroganz, showcasing their aggression and passion for the extreme, or in other words, it’s a dark and venomous Black Metal chant that will surely send shivers down your spine as those girls show no mercy for our damned souls. Then a cryptic, psychological excerpt kicks off Fegefeuer, again bringing forward an amalgamation of Black Metal and atmospheric and doom elements, with their harsh, vile gnarls piercing our minds and hearts flawlessly. The duo managed to sound even more infuriated and harsh in Hesperus, with their caustic riffs and blast beats generating a massive wall of sounds in the name of Black Metal; followed by Kataklysm, the first single of the album, sounding and feeling absolutely brutal, grim and infernal, with Satyra and Melpomene blasting their sonic weapons with tons of anger and hatred, also offering elements of Melodic Black Metal in their sound to make things even more electrifying, flowing into the austere eight-minute closing tune Pilatus, where they go full Black Metal, bringing to our avid ears an overdose of crushing blast beats, scorching riffs and demonic roars and gnarls. I have no idea which one of the two girls plays drums in the album, but she sounds insanely heavy and precise until the very last second, not to mention the beauty of the song’s creepy, atmospheric passage.
“Imagine you would wake up in a world full of mysteries and realities woven into each other, like in a story book of the past centuries of Dante Alighieri or Homer. Two black-robed mysteries in gold-snake masks wake you up from the heavy dorm with blackened sirens crushing your ears, mesmerizing your mind to sense the allegories of humankind existence. You’ve got an invitation to a storybook of hellish Sodom, chapter by chapter illustrating thy and foreign dystopia”. These cryptic words are spot-on in depicting the music found in Éna, and you can put your hands on such a flammable album by purchasing it from the band’s own BandCamp, or from Dusktone’s BandCamp or webstore. You can also check what the duo is up to on Facebook and Instagram, and stream their music on Spotify, joining this mysterious, devilish duo in their quest for the underground to the sound of their caustic debut opus, an album that will certainly drag you to the underworld with them.
Best moments of the album: Fegefeuer and Pilatus.
Worst moments of the album: None.
Released in 2024 Dusktone
Track listing
1. Arroganz 7:14
2. Fegefeuer 7:18
3. Hesperus 5:55
4. Kataklysm 5:10
5. Pilatus 8:00
Band members
Satyra – unknown
Melpomene – unknown
Guest musician
Athâerus – vocals on “Pilatus”
THE HEADBANGING MOOSE 