Barshasketh has been honing their craft for the better part of eighteen years now, starting off in New Zealand before relocating to Scotland following 2010’s Defying the Bonds of Cosmic Thraldom. Where earlier material fell closer to second-wave black metal, by the time the group’s third album Ophidian Henosis came out in 2015 their approach had shifted significantly. The core elements of earlier black metal were still there, but the sound was fuller and the material sprawled outwards towards a tense and haunting atmosphere. This continued on 2019’s self-titled record and has twisted into another configuration on this year’s Antinomian Asceticism, favoring equal amounts of dizzying, nightmarish riffs and methodical sprawls. It’s the type of album with both immediate hooks that draw you in and slower burns that might take a few times through to fully appreciate, giving listeners plenty to dig into early in the year.
Past material certainly wasn’t lacking in intensity, but the first two tracks on Antinomian Asceticism take things up a notch with dense, fast paced instrumentation and guitar work that feels like it towers over the recording in a monolithic way. “Radiant Aperture” wastes no time in pummeling the listener with blast beats and dense layers of guitar, but it pivots after a minute or two into a more methodical cadence where the tense atmosphere grows. “Nitimur in Vetitum” is easily one of the most intense tracks on the entire album, as the way its leads start off fast and only seem to get faster and faster over time reminds me of the musical form of a tornado, almost as though you’re witnessing the storm from inside of the funnel. The layering and ferocity of moments like this recall the density of bands like Nightbringer as well as the more grandiose touches of Emperor, but the way each song ebbs and flows keeps Barshasketh from feeling as though they’re falling into another group’s pattern. There are some similarities from song to song, but the way the group executes them keeps things interesting from beginning to end and allows the focus to be on different elements with each one. Things do tend to lead back into the maelstrom of blast beats and dense layers of chaotic riffing, but I can appreciate that the slower transitions didn’t all sound the same each time and this made for plenty of standout moments. Admittedly a few of the later tracks took a bit to fully sink in and didn’t quite have that same immediacy as the earlier material, but after devoting quite a bit of time into Antinomian Asceticism a lot of additional nuances began to jump out.
The vocals are another area where Barshasketh stands out from your average black metal band, as they utilize a wide range of harsher pitches to keep the intensity at its peak level. One of the most common styles you’ll hear throughout Antinomian Asceticism is a raspier scream that seems to fuse with the whirlwind of guitars to sound as though it’s just as nightmarish and twisted, but there are plenty of lower growls and even some chants and cleaner pitches. On songs like “Charnel Quietism” the way the cleaner and harsher vocals come together draws you in, as there is just as much power to the chants as the higher screaming. It often feels like the vocal arrangements have a similar ebb and flow as the instrumentation, providing plenty of twists and turns while building naturally over the course of each song, and this focus helps to elevate the material.
Some of the songs on the second half took a bit longer to sink in compared to the immediacy of the first, but Barshasketh’s latest effort has a lot to offer for those willing to dive beneath the whirlwind of instrumentation and peel back the layers. They’ve taken the foundation from their past two albums and pushed it to new heights, offering even tenser and nightmarish onslaughts alongside slower sections that are just as atmospheric and thought provoking. We may only be a few weeks into 2025, but Barshasketh has presented one of the first major black metal highlights and I expect it to still be talked about in the months to come. Antinomian Asceticism is available from World Terror Committee.
-Review by Chris Dahlberg