Asatta come our way from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. To date, they’ve released two EPs — 2013’s self-titled Asatta and last year’s Songs For A Blood Moon — but they’re now on the verge of releasing their debut album, aptly titled Spiraling Into Oblivion. It will descend upon us on September 2 via Burnout Planet Records. Two songs from the album have previously premiered, and today we bring you a third one, “3 Dials”.
Asatta’s bass player Joe Arenas shared with us these thoughts about the song you will soon hear:
“Lyrically, ‘3 Dials’ is intentionally more cryptic/nonlinear than the other songs on the album. It’s the apocalyptic futuristic visions received by an Oracle. The guitar really sets an ominous tone and we really wanted the lyrics and vocals to reflect that same feeling of impending doom.”
And to that we say, “mission accomplished”.
Slow, deep, dismal, distorted chords begin this track (which opens the album), the vibration strong enough to rattle your teeth… and then the rest of the song descends like a glacially-paced avalanche, or perhaps a slow-motion rain of mountainous meteors, accompanied by inflamed, agonizing howls and shrieks (and wisps of wailing that become more prominent as the song proceeds).
The music is never less than crushing and obliterating, but the pace does quicken into the rumbling motion of a massive bulldozer bent on bringing down whole buildings, accented by a beleaguered, fuzz-bombed riff. The vocalists continue to shriek and roar in unison, and a seething tremolo riff surfaces here and there, like a viper rising up in your fractured path through this earthquake.
But there’s still more to come, as a searing, psychoactive guitar lead begins to spiral out, reverberating in your ears and branding the melody in your head, as soulful, melodic vocals intensify this calamitous head trip.
Spiraling Into Oblivion was recorded at Street Recording Studio in July 2015 with producer Shane Hochstetler. The album can be pre-ordered via Bandcamp here:
https://asatta2.bandcamp.com/album/spiraling-into-oblivion-2
In the player below, you can listen not only to “3 Dials” but also to the two tracks that have been released previously, “Lapse” and “She Died Long Ago”, just in case you feel the need to have your skull even more thoroughly and completely smashed into fragments.
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