This album explodes with “Interstellar Islands”, not wasting any time. Instantly, we get some vicious Metalcore breakdowns, some rigid MathCore, and some really explosive vocals from Eleni Zafiriadou. Like, she is absolutely monstrous in her performance. But this one also has some really well done, hazy sequences that walk the edge of beautiful. It just gives this one a little something different, but don’t let that fool you, this one is blistering. But for my liking, I actually sort of wish we saw them experiment even further with these sort of dreamy sounds. This is decent, but it’s clearly pulling from everything these artists have already done. Now, “Heart of Stone” is much more streamlined. This one is a little more in the Alt-Metal direction and I actually love the sound of this track. Eleni’s screams are just as guttural, but I love how she kinda sorta sounds human deep down, giving her this incredibly tortured sound. Not only that, but I love the catchy hook that they drop in on this one, making it just memorable enough. But they do all of this without giving up an inch of just how technically abrasive this one is. Like, this is HEAVY. But, I’m loving every minute of this one, and the quiet moments here make for some seriously great moments of tension. The technical onslaught continues in a big way here on “Heavy Yoke” with rumbling drums, and Eleni’s performance is absolutely curdling. Like, it is absolutely brilliant. And here, they make this really cool move of going for a big, dreamy, dreary chorus. It’s beautiful and all, but then these verses come along and they’ll have you running for your life. I like this one a LOT, even though I do sort of feel like they need to really narrow down their sound an iron out some kinks. But so much of this is impressive. Now, ““Fine Lines”” actually goes for something entirely different. This is a much slower, atmospheric, chugging tune with tons of personality. And it’s absolutely freakin’ brilliant to be honest, even if it’s less than 2-minutes. Azusa here really define their sound and find a great balance between all of these sounds coming together. Eleni’s singing is beautiful, and even amongst all of these beautiful elements this one still has plenty of teeth.
On the other hand, “Lost In The Ether” blasts in with plenty of chugging Metalcore drums and zooming guitars. But this one is my least favorite track of the bunch. This is decent and all, but outside of the more sung chorus there really isn’t anything about this one that stands out to me as something truly different in these genres. And some of these Mathcore inspired moments here to seem to be a little more unsure of themselves than these guys were hoping for. And it’s a shame because there are really cool elements, like that sung chorus and these very tense drums. And with tracks like “Spellbinder”, I can’t really say much more. This is easily the tightest and most rigid tune of the bunch yet. But this absolutely has no personality. As a matter of fact, it has like -2 personality. And sure, this one rips, but with these guys, I really feel like they can do so much more. The fact that I have nothing to say about this one good OR bad is a problem. But “Programmed to Distress” has such a legitimately eerie, twisted intro that I can’t help but dive right in. I know that it’s predominately been a lot of the slower tunes here that I’ve enjoyed. But I do really love some of the incredibly haunting vocals here, and just how loving this one is. Like, here, some of these Mathcore moments actually come off like they have some meat to them. And Eleni’s vocal here may just be her most harmonious of the bunch. All of this, while still remaining genuinely heavy. On the other hand, “Eternal Echo” is one of the more calculating songs here. I love how much this one really just attacks from all sides. The guitars are rigid, the drums are booming, and these vocals are just so tortured, as Eleni sounds like she’s about to rip her damn throat out. I actually wish they ended up taking this one up a notch and went to the next step. But still, this is a really great sound for them.
Now, “Iniquitous Spiritual Praxis” takes everything I enjoyed about the last track but adds in some keyboards in the background to take things to that level that I really wanted them to go. Sonically this is so vast and chilling, and Eleni here is absolutely captivating. This one is heavy as hell, but there isn’t a single second here where Azusa isn’t completely challenging themselves. The winding guitar solos are jaw-dropping, the drums are bonkers, and there isn’t anything here that isn’t completely melting my mind. And that’s what I personally want to hear. On the other hand, “Succumb to Sorrow” is absolutely soul sucking. Here, Eleni sounds like she’ll rip YOUR throat out for a change. It’s not the most explosive tune here. But the calculating guitars and the pummeling drums here are a really great touch. Once again though, I do wish this was a little longer. But hey, some of these effect-drenched vocals at the end are BRILLIANT. This album ends off with “Distant Call”, and of all of the slow-burning, chugging tunes here, this is not the band’s finest moment. Like, I think the very breezy chorus is fine, and that distant violin (or at least I think it’s a violin) is a nice touch. But the piles of Mathcore riffs piling up here just sound lost and even worse, awkward. This is an alright introduction to this project, but they can narrow down their sound so much more.
Rating: 7.4/10
Give A Listen To: “Heart of Stone”, “Fine Lines”, “Programmed to Distress”, “Iniquitous Spiritual Praxis”
Least Favorite Track: “Spellbinder”
Genre: Metalcore / Mathcore / Experimental Metal
Overall Thoughts: With how fantastic of a year this has been for Metal, I honestly did expect a little more out of this album. Asuza has a really great sound, blending elements of all of the bands these members came from. And honestly, it’s really interesting, especially when they slow things down. They blend genres like Metalcore and MathCore with gloomy Doom Metal. There are the occasionally dreary breakdowns and even catchy choruses. But I feel like they don’t take that far enough. When they’re just blaring through Metalcore jams, they tend to come off a little faceless sometimes. Still though, this isn’t terrible.
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