As Kindred was winding down, the band that quickly became their metalcore-successor in the Limburg area of Belgium was Ashlar. They took Kindred's sound and added an 'evil' element to it, as corny as that may sound. They were more metal than Kindred, with a singer who was nothing short of a maniac on stage. Chewing on the occasional blood-capsule, rolling away his eyes till only the white showed, it was a bit ridiculous even back then but few people cared as the band was a tight metalcore-machine on stage... While the recordings show the potential this band had, this band's true power was on stage, always good times. The guitarist would mostly just chew on some bubblegum and play his riffs like they were the simplest power chords, while the bassist and drummer were laying down the heavy foundation of their sound. Good stuff and memorable shows.They were around for a relatively brief time and managed to do only one proper release, the 'Enthroned In A So-Called Heaven' MCD, released in 1998. One thing to note here is that the singer sounds different on these recordings than live, because he was down with a cold during the recordings and thus had a sore throat which heavily affected his voice. Apart from that, this is a solid and good record which I still enjoy listening to.
They did record another record which unfortunately is hard to come by as it wasn't properly released. Thanxxx to Sebastian 'xUNBORNx' from the XCatalystX forums I've managed to get mp3's and scans of it. It was recorded in 2004 when they did a few reunion-shows and decided to record a couple of new songs. It's harder and even more metal than their first release, and definitely quality stuff once again.Members went on to play in (the Dutch) Rancor and Sons Of Irah.
Ashlar - Enthroned In A So-Called Heaven MCD
Ashlar - self-titled MCD
ah thx emonerd! ashlar were pretty a controversial band too, i remember them opening shows with the moaning of a porn flick and stuff like that! anyway, they were nice kids back then.
ReplyDeletethanks
ReplyDeleteWrong link to the mediafire MCD? i can't use it. (I already had this mcd, very good, just need the cover)
ReplyDeleteThe selftitled link's good..
Should be fixed now. Thanxxx for noticing!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for this! I had no idea they ever released anything other than the first EP.
ReplyDeleteIndeed ... Raoul can make a riff look so easy to play, he is by far one of the best guitarplayers I've personally worked with. I can't possibly tell you how glad we are to have him with us in SONS OF IRAH.
ReplyDeleteIn case you are interested; Ashlar's bassplayer Frank is currently active in a local thrash/punk/grindband called EKZEEM-A which managed to gain a cultstatus throughout the past decade! You can check them out at http://www.myspace.com/rosedufeu
Did an interview with Raoul back in the 90s, intended for my zine xBonded by Bloodx which never saw light though... Their MCD was due to be released on Sober Mind or Genet if I'm correct. However, during their set on Ypres fest (Vortn Vis) in 98 or 99 they let their friends of SOY jump in for a couple of tracks, which apparently really set up the organisers and, hence, record label. Will have to dig up the old interview and odd pics I have of 'em.
ReplyDelete