Ashtoreth & Onsturicheit – Svartur (Album – Belgian NeuMusik / Wool-E Discs)
Genre/Influences: Ambient-Electro, Experimental, Abstract.
Format: Digital, CD.
Background/Info: This new opus in the Belgian NeuMusik series resulted from the collaborative efforts between Peter Verwimp (Ashtoreth –which already released an impressive number of productions on labels such as Cyclic Law, Winter Light, Unexplained Sounds Group, Consouling Sounds ao) Peter Moorkens (Onsturicheit –who released an endless number of releases in a rather short lapse of time). This album is the meeting between different genres and influences resulting in five tracks.
Content: Onsturicheit is an addict of modular synths while Ashtoreth deals with darker and more Experimental music. We get a sophisticated production revealing the meeting between different influences but mainly related and driven by the Ambient-Electro goal of the Belgian NeuMusik concept. Cinematographic passages have been intermixed with more Experimental- and even Abstract compositions. Field recordings are reinforcing the strange sound universe of the duo. I got the feeling most of the tracks are into pure improvisation, but it doesn’t take away from some parts that have been meticulously built up and accentuated by some deep, buzzing voices and other vocal effects.
+ + + : Ashtoreth and Onsturicheit have accomplished an interesting work, which especially on both last tracks reveal true potential. Both cuts have been progressively built up; the dark and somewhat haunting sphere at “Ljiraq” together with the voice creates an anguishing and intriguing listening. A similar strange sound universe becomes even more explicit at “When Sterility Becomes A Slumbering Thruth And Hidden Wisdom”, but also reveals the cohesion between both artists. There also is a visual strength emerging from this last song.
– – – : Some parts aren’t exactly the most accessible, the Experimental approach becoming more important than the Ambient-influence.
Conclusion: This collaboration between two Belgian work addicts is a noticeable new production in this conceptual series for Ambient lovers.
Best songs: “Ljiraq”, “When Sterility Becomes A Slumbering Thruth And Hidden Wisdom”.
Rate: (7).
Artists: https://ashtorethcult.tumblr.com / www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063497169807 / www.facebook.com/Onsturicheit
Label: www.wool-e-discs.be / www.belgianneumusik.be /
About Ashtoreth & Onsturicheit
Ashtoreth is the solo project of Peter Verwimp, based in Antwerp, Belgium, working in minimal drone, doom-tinged guitar and shamanistic ambient forms since releases such as “Itobia” (2011, Pelican Avenue) and “Redemption” (2018, Consouling Sounds); later albums include “Rites III-IV” (2022, Cyclic Law) and, as Onasander & Ashtoreth, “Devotio” (2023, Winter-Light). Onsturicheit is the modular-synthesizer project of Peter Moorkens, also from Antwerp, who self-released a dense run of Dutch-language albums between 2013 and 2015 before Wool-E Discs issued the box set “Wanneer De Herder Doolt, Zo Dolen De Schapen” in 2018 and reissued “Waan”, “Angstzweet”, “Splinter”, “Impressies” and “In De Nevelen” in 2019. Side-Line spoke to Onsturicheit for a Click Interview that same year and covered the live album “Live At The PostX” in 2021. “Svartur” marked the first collaboration between the two Antwerp artists, recorded during the 2020 lockdown and released on December 21, 2020 by Belgian NeuMusik as a glass-mastered CD in a 4-page digisleeve limited to 200 copies.
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