Onasander & Ashtoreth – Devotio (Album – Winter-Light)
Genre/Influences: Dark-Ambient, Ritual.
Format: Digital, CD.
Background/Info: Maurizio Landini (Onasander) and Peter Verwimp “Ashtoreth) joined hands to unleash this collaborative work inspired by an old Roman rite about sacrifice. The Italian- and Belgian artists both are familiar working together with other projects.
Content: The work is clearly into Dark-Ambient atmospheres empowered by ritual influences. A dark, desolate sound universe has been mixed with heavy, overpowering, blasts while field recordings are constantly emerging at the surface. You’ll also notice passages with droning percussion sounds and a kind of throat singing.
+ + + : The main strength of the work emerges from the icy sound treatments creating an obscure, frightening sensation. The opening piece is directly a highlight but I also have to mention the absolute climax of the work entitled “Inferis”. The deep, vibrating, sound treatments running through this cut and mixed with a throat singer effect are simply dark magic. There’s a perfect sonic match between both artists which have realized a succession of expressive cuts.
– – – : I only noticed one single piece that couldn’t convince me (cf. “Evocation”) for being unaccomplished -or should I say without a true apotheosis.
Conclusion: An album inspired by ancestral rites resulting in brilliant compositions of fear.
Best songs: “Inferis”, “Votum”, “Pharmakos”.
Rate: 8.
Artists: www.facebook.com/onasander / www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063497169807
Label: www.winter-light.nl / www.facebook.com/winter.light.1
Listen to “Devotio”:
About Onasander & Ashtoreth
Onasander is the prolific solo alias of Italian artist Maurizio Landini, known for numerous collaborations with acts including Kloob, Ajna, Empusae, Alphaxone and Nimh, alongside a solo album, “Dawn Metrics”, released on Winter-Light in 2025. Ashtoreth is a project of Belgian artist Peter Verwimp, who has also recorded as part of Naiad with Nicolas Van Meirhaeghe (Empusae) under the Penumbral Aethyr moniker. “Devotio” brought the two artists together for a Winter-Light collaboration built around an old Roman sacrificial rite.
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