Saturday 23 March 2019

11PARANOIAS - Asterismal (Album Review)


Release date: March 15th 2019. Label: Ritual Productions. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Asterismal – Tracklisting

1.Loss Portal 08:16
2.Bloodless Crush 03:21
3.Vitrified Galaxy 06:32
4.Prelude 02:07
5.Slow Moon 09:07
6.Quantitative Immortalities 11:55
7.Chamber of Stars 06:14

Members

Adam Richardson (bass/vox)
Mike Vest (guitar)
Nathan Perrier (drums)

Review

Asterismal is the epic new album from Progressive Doom/Sludge Metallers 11PARANOIAS. This album is a very dense and heavy affair and I wouldn’t expect anything less from these guys. The album is a Space Rock odyssey though the band a nightmarish and surreal vision to their music. The music is constantly heavy and always evolving into a different style of Spaced Out Rock that only 11PARANOIAS could possibly make.

Asterismal runs for around seventy-two minutes and it’s epic as they come. The songs all have a deep meaningful sound and identity of their own. Each song sounds very different to each other. As the band play many different styles of Doom, Sludge and Psychedelic Metal. The whole feel of the album has an almost TRIBAL feel to it especially on songs such as: Loss Patrol, Bloodless Crush, Vitrified Galaxy, Slow Moon, Chamber Of Stars and the excellent two-part song of Acoustic Mirror.

If you’ve listened to previous albums by the band then you know what to expect. However, the band take a darker and slightly depressing turn on this album and it works wonders for their overall sound. Their music now has a more threatening purpose and the music becomes heavier as a result.

The vocals from Adam are superbly sung from the start. As they’re a mixture of clean chants, harsh growls and regular clean vocals. Though I do have an issue understanding what is being sung on certain parts of the album. It’s a good job that the music is brilliantly played and highly original in its own right. The heavy droned out sludgy guitars allows the band to have a more nuanced approach to their music.

Asterismal has a distinctive stop-start approach where the band could be playing an epic riff and they stop for a split second and decide to play a different style of music. For the most part this works in the bands favour. However, this style of music could be distracting to the more casual listener than a die-hard fan of the band. Asterismal is perhaps best suited to people who know what to expect from this great band.

Asterismal is a thrilling and very surreal album that delves right into the darkness of i 11PARANOIAS music. This is an album that you need to be in a certain frame of mind to fully appreciate and understand the whole meaning of the album. 11PARANOIAS have always been the type of band who are never afraid to experiment with their music and still make you want to experience more.

I may not fully understand the full themes and ideas of Asterismal yet but it’s going to be a great journey trying to figure this out for myself. Overall, Asterismal is a thought-provoking and complex album that ranks as one of the best albums the band have released yet.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Barbara at NeeCee Agency and Ritual Productions for the promo. Asterismal will be available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl via Ritual Productions from March 15th 2019.

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp