Ancst / Ast

Germany’s resident peddlers of the hardcore, sludge and blackened crust, Vendetta Records, have recently brought two underground German black metal acts together, Ast and Ancst, for a split LP. While there’s only two letters separating the band names, both bring a distinctive and provoking take on the genre, refusing to be confined to the standard realms of black metal. Released as a limited twelve inch, this eponymously titled split album features four tracks from each band, clocking in at a little over thirty minutes.

The split begins with the Berlin based Ancst, who has been active since 2011 and has since released a bevy of splits and EP’s. While the band has dabbled in ambient in drone, notably on the split with D/A A/D, there isn’t any drone on their side of the split. Instead, they bring a raging slab of black metal and crust with a slight sludgy hardcore vibe at times. The opening track begins with rather harsh percussion and furiously melodic trem riffing. After washing in waters of second wave black metal for a few moments, the vocals kick in, which is a mid-ranged style that sounds like a raspy growled shout, and with the vocals come a subtle shift in guitar riffing. This is where the band’s crusty colors begin to show, and it’s something that stays through the remainder of their side, with ajestic chord progressions making headway as the drums continue to blast along. “Seizures” gives a brief respite, starting with some melodic wandering, but the band is quick to fall back into crusty, blackened riffing with blasting drums. Overall, Ancst brings a solid mix of blackened crust and melodic black metal, as evidenced by the swirling riffing on “Edge of Self-Deceit”.

Ast, a band which I can find little to no information for, previously released a five track EP in 2013 that quickly sold out. From the opening notes of “Unbenannt”, with it’s rhythmically disjointed take on blackened metal, it’s clear that Ast is batting in a completely different ballpark than Ancst. Rather than crusty chords and rampant blasting, Ancst focuses on slow moving passages of heavy handed power chords and lots of nods to post-metal wandering. Traces of noise and hardcore creep their way into the mix as well, with scattershot riffing that takes a page from mathcore at times while never really leaving the realms of metal, like on “Hybris & Hamartie” with its barrage of jerky guitar rhythms. The band’s vocalist brings some throaty shouts that at times sound like mid-90′s hardcore. Most impressive though is the band’s uber-loud bass sound, which pops and thumps throughout their side of the split, creating miasmic and chaotic underbelly to an already chaotic sound. The band’s dabbling with noise culminates in their closing track, “F.S.”, which sounds like much of the rest of their side, but the song eventually nosedives into a section of droning noise which almost sounds like the stereo shorted out and quit. I guess that’s one way to close things out.

Ancst and Ast bring two distinctive styles of blackened metal, one focusing more on crust and the other more on post-metal and noisy stuff. Despite their difference, the split plays through nicely, perhaps because both bands cram so much stuff into their sounds. Black metal purists will want to look elsewhere, but those with an open mind and willingness to see the genre expand beyond the confines of second wave blasting should check this out.

Written for The Metal Observer.