When deciding whether or not to go into a determined brand new band (without any previous releases) for a review, I usually pick them if I’m inspired by the genre, of course, and by the cover artwork. In this case I wasn’t totally attracted by the cover, but there was something that pushed me to listen and review this album – and after several listenings I couldn’t have made a better choice in order to start 2024 with a new great discovery. ÅSSE (pronounced “osse”) is a Black Metal duo founded in early 2022. The word åsse is a Norwegian term which means crest of the mountain – very evocative. In the most classic of misanthropic traditions, the origin of the band and their components is quite mysterious. Their Bandcamp page and Metal Archives says that they are from Genoa, in the north of Italy, but the label states that “the band is based in Europe, but the origin isn’t clear yet. All that is known is H.K. and O.P. have connections with members of the Norwegian Black Metal scene from Oslo, Bergen and Bodø, whom had music collaborations with.” Who knows! What we know is that O.P. is in charge of vocals and lyrics and H.K. of all the instruments. The album follows a classic Black Metal structure, but there are a lot of other Metal and Punk influences that can be clearly identified among all the six tracks that compose “Åsse”. This combination of different styles that are brought together by a Black Metal pattern is clearly a tribute to what extreme Metal is and to the genres that lead to the definition of the first Black Metal sound in the ’90s. Death Metal, Doom Metal, Thrash Metal and even Hardcore Punk but not only as symphonic, epic and liturgic incursion can be found. In order not to be misunderstood, this is Black Metal. The overall musical structure flows straight and solid with guitar riffs and changes that are intriguing and captivating, with bass lines well placed and played. The vocals range through different lines although the scream is the main conductor all over the 27 minutes. This is their debut, so a lot of things should be fixed in the future – in fact the mix of the above genres is for sure a plus but, in my opinion, they’ll have to find a better connection among the tracks. I know that nowadays innovation in Metal in most cases never leads to something good and in fact I wouldn’t define their incursion from other styles such as an innovation but it’s definitely something that can meet the appreciation of a large scale of Metal fans. This is definitely a good proposal since the leitmotif of the whole album is a pure misanthropic Black Metal. To order the CD version (the only one available at the moment) go check the label page: www.facebook.com/ibdc666