ASTRIAAL: Anatomy of the Infinite

Produced by Astriaal

Released: August 2010

Seven years ago, Astriaal attained the pinnacle of their art with Renascent Misanthropy. Anatomy of the Infinite sees them reaching the same height, if not surpassing it in its exploration of cold, malefic spite.

With much of the previous album's symphonic elements stripped away, Anatomy of the Infinite brandishes a harsher, even more malevolent sound. The rawness only helps to further enhance Astriaal's sharp, deft melodies that stand in antithesis to the sheer brutality of the riffs and Gryphon's relentless blast beats. Baaruhl and Helthor's unison tremolo picking and Arzarkhel's typical shrieking howls don't see the band experimenting very much beyond the usual melodic black metal framework, but that only means they are working closer to the perfect ideal of the genre. Snippets of narrative and choruses of dark chanting add to the cheerless vision of ultimate oblivion that is this album, draped in the morbid works of Notke and Valdés Leal. Like Renascent Misanthropy, the intro piece "Blessed are the Dead" builds towards the crushing fury of "Visceral Incarnate" and little remorse is offered from that moment. The clean tones and gentle, haunting dynamics of "Relinquishment of the Stars" is in stark contrast to "For the Day Will Come", an epic, majestic track that closes the album on a note of unaccountable bleakness.

Anatomy of the Infinite is the perfect companion to its predecessor and a further definition of Astriaal's mastery of their chosen art, their own unflinching statement on the fraility of humanity in the face of eternity. Another masterpiece.

1. Blessed are the Dead
2. Visceral Incarnate
3. 'Neath the Bones of Salvation
4. Ad Interim
5. The Scars of Aberration
6. Foundations in Flesh
7. Relinquishment of the Stars
8. For the Day Will Come

Rating: 95%

ASTRIAAL: Renascent Misanthropy

Produced by Lachlan Mitchell and Astriaal

Released: 2003

A true renewal of hatred, this was the pinnacle to which Astriaal had been climbing gradually for a few years. Since their classic ‘Glories of the Nightsky’ demo, the band had been tuning their talents and tweaking their songwriting, making better and better recordings with each step of their journey. By the time this album was about to surface, Astriaal had become the most visible and highest-profile black metal band in Australia and one with a rare status and reputation that allowed them to play on virtually any metal bill with bands of any genre. Anyone who had followed their career had to realise that this album was going to be a good one. The only question was how good it would be.

Renascent Misanthropy is a work of sinister genius that put Astriaal far beyond the reach of other Australian acts in the same field and even well past many from other parts of the globe. This album is that good. Renascent Misanthropy is an almost perfect combination of violence and melody, technical playing, elaborate arrangements, catchy riffs and cold, scathing hate. It isn't particularly innovative from an originality point of view, but it did embody precisely how to create a work within the rigid framework of their chosen style. From merciless onslaughts like ‘Ritual Hate Construct’ and ‘Revere the Labyrinth’, Astriaal can then turn a deftly creative hand to summon a maliciously beautiful instrumental piece in the shape of ‘Acquisition of the Stars’ and follow that with a masterpiece of evil such as ‘Reaper of Dark Ages’ with a consummate ease that is almost frightening in itself. The songs are complex without becoming mindlessly self-indulgent and the production has been steered expertly to highlight every sound within the maelstrom and throughout Astriaal managed to create a sense of real menace without wandering into the realms of self-parody to which so many others have become ensnared.

This album is a total masterpiece, one of the best Australian metal albums ever.

1. The Funeral Procession
2. Ritual Hate Construct
3. Revere the Labyrinth
4. Glories to the Nightsky
5. Ode to Antiquity
6. Aborescence
7. Acquisition of the Stars
8. Reaper of Dark Ages
9. The Halls of Peridition

Rating: 98%