On a Road to Asgartha

Seems like Johann Aegidius Ritter has given up on using cover art for his various small Alpha Drone releases, preferring now to slap the logo on each one. Before that, the artwork wasn’t usually much good, so it’s not a major blow, even if I prefer to use imagery to remember discrete releases. As it happens, On a Road to Asgartha is actually the largest release of new material since For Ana, AD’s second album back in 2015. Even so, only 2 tracks have made it onto the 18 minute EP, and I’d call the first an intro if I was less inclined to celebrate more material.

Musically and thematically, ‘The Death of Man Is the Birth of the Gods’ occupies familiar territory for this project, philosophical weight veering off to one side in consequence of echoing slow spoken word that I can barely catch, while gradual melodies and drones play off in harmonious unease. At least, that’s the case until the 4 minute mark, when Ritter decides to suddenly remind us that AD used to be a black metal project, foisting gnashing growls on the listener and intensifying the beat a little. Oddly, that doesn’t result in much change to the smoothness of the backing, crackly distortion of beats aside. Nothing else major marks the 15 minutes of this main composition: I enjoy how the gentle churn of guitar later on creates a momentum that I haven’t heard much from AD, allowing the repeating melody to become hypnotic over several minutes until the song collapses piece by piece to the sound of a subway train moving, plus occasional electronic flickers.

Added to the ominous introduction of ‘A Void Made Manifest’, the sinister clicking of which isn’t the way to start your morning (I’m speaking from experience), On a Road to Asgartha knows how to make an impact despite containing fairly congruent music. The greater part of the EP’s length is made up of the vague restfulness of those treated guitar melodies and should probably attract anyone fond of ambient, noise, industrial, or even the outer reaches of black metal where Striborg lurk.