Asgrauw - IJsval

The three-headed group Asgrauw has been around for almost 10 years and they’re going to celebrate that with their ice cold album called ‘IJsval’. Formed in 2010, the band has been building a decent reputation to become a steady name in the Dutch black metal scene. With the sound inspired by the 2nd wave of Scandinavian black metal, Asgrauw proves again that they are still a strong and powerful band and certainly one to keep an eye out for. The 7-track full length ‘IJsval’ will be released in digital format on the 20th of January and the pre-order for the vinyl pressing of ‘IJsval’ will appear on the 3rd of January through Death Kvlt Productions. Those vinyl will be very limited to only 100 copies so act fast if you see them pop up online. 

 

So let’s talk music. One of the first things that really pops out of everything, are the vocal recordings and the mix of the vocals. It has been put far behind every other instrument in the mix. The vocals of Vaal are more of a guidance type of vocals instead of the standard ‘black metal’ style of vocals you hear on every other black metal album/ep/demo. This could make Asgrauw an atmospheric black metal album however that isn’t the case. 

 

The whole album feels cold and I guess that is exactly what Asgrauw is trying to achieve with ‘IJsval’. If you would compare the current production sound with their previous record ‘Gronspech’, you will notice that the whole sound is way better. The sound is thicker than ‘Gronspech’. It gives the whole vibe of the album more of a professional produced feeling. Not that ‘Gronspech’ isn’t however it is a good example of the professional growth of Asgrauw. 

 

Talking about differences between Asgrauw’s latest album and ‘IJsval’, besides the improved production sound, is that Asgrauw is willing to experiment more with tempo changes throughout ‘IJsval’. It will keep you more interested in the new songs that Asgrauw has made. ‘IJsval’ doesn’t feel like a long sit even though 90% of the album is more than 4 minutes long. Asgrauw drags you into the ice cold musical journey that is called ‘IJsval’. 

 

‘IJsval’ tells us about the slow cold upcoming end of time caused by the filth and ignorance of the human race itself. This will be the real ‘cold-war’ we shall receive if we won’t change the way we operate and treat mother earth. With that in the back of my head, the music makes more and more sense. ‘IJsval’ gives you the lonely ice cold slow impending soundtrack to the selfmade deterioration of the earth.