Here’s something quite exotic from STF - Records.
ASTRUM ET ABYSSUM hail from Mannheim and play a mix of classic heavy metal, combined with the sounds of a didgeridoo. This is then complemented by percussion and keyboards.
The promo photo already gives me a bad feeling, but how many promo photos are bad while the band's music is acceptable?
However, this is not the case here.
The lyrics sung by vocalist Beaty are pretentious, full of pathos, and sound like a long-time Protestant social worker trying to do heavy metal. It’s really awful. It gets quite annoying while listening, especially by the second song, and it absolutely does not motivate one to listen to more songs from the band.
This is quite a shame because the songs are arranged quite ambitiously and could definitely carve out their own niche with more use of the didgeridoo.
However, everything is ruined by Beaty's lyrics. It’s not about her singing, as she has quite a bit of talent, but it’s about the lyrics. Embarrassing. Really embarrassing.
What works well as parody for bands like Knorkator is taken seriously by this band.
They could have really left all of this alone.
Let them go play in their ethnic group and drum while the others play metal. It may be that there will eventually be a combo that can mix this well. But ASTRUM ET ABYSSUM are not that.
