Absu (band)

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Absu
Absu Logo.gif

Absu Live 2009
Absu Live 2009
General information
Genre (s) Metal
founding 1989, 2007
resolution 2003, 2018
Website www.absu.us
Founding members
Mike "Shaftiel" Kelly
Bass , guitar
Ray "Lord Equitant Alastor" Heflin
Current occupation
Vocals, drums
Russ R. "Emperor Proscriptor Magikus" / "Sir Proscriptor McGovern" Givens since 1992
Guitar, keyboard
Matthew "Vis Crom" Moore since 2009, until 2018 as Matt Moore
bass
Paul "Ezezu" Williamson since 2007
former members
Bass, guitar
Ray "Equitant" Heflin 1989-2002
Bass, guitar
Mike "Shaftiel" Kelly 1989-2003
guitar
Dave "Daviel Athron Mysticia" Ward 1992-1993
guitar
Gary Lindholm 1991-1992
guitar
Wheel "Kashshapxu" Davis 2001–2002
Keyboard
Brian "Black Massith" Artwick 1992-1993
Guitar, keyboard
Geoffrey “Zawicizuz” Sawicky 2007–2009
Guitar, synthesizer
Shandy "Aethyris" McKay 2007-2010
Live session musician
bass
Chris "Mezzadurus" Gamble ( Bloodstorm )

Absu was an American metal band from Plano , Texas . The band defined their style as Mythological Occult Metal .

history

Absu was founded in 1989 under the name Dolmen by Mike "Shaftiel" Kelly and Ray "Lord Equitant Alastor" Heflin and released the demo On the Eve of War that same year . In 1991 the band changed their name to Azatoth and a little later to Absu. Under this name, which came from Equitant, the band released the three demos Return of the Ancients , Immortal Sorcery and The Temples of Offal in the same year . In 1992, Infinite and Profane Thrones followed and Absu signed a record deal with Gothic Records. The band's first official release was the EP Temples of Offal , which has already sold around 2,000 times. The band's early history until 1992 was marked by various line-up changes until Russ R. Givens was hired by Magus as drummer and singer, who from then on carried the pseudonym "Emperor Proscriptor Magikus" or "Sir Proscriptor McGovern".

In the same year Equitant, Proscriptor and Shaftiel started the experimental metal / dark ambient / ritual project Equimanthorn , in which members of other bands such as Zemial and Melechesh also participate. A total of four albums have been released under this name so far, currently only Ray Heflin is active as singer and keyboardist in the project.

In 1993 the debut album Barathrum: VITRIOL ( Visita interiora terrae, rectificando invenies occultum lapidem ) was released, also via Gothic Records. The promo recorded in the same year brought the band a contract with the French independent label Osmose Productions , so that in 1995 the second album could be released. The Sex, Cyber ​​& Rock'n Roll European Tour followed in the spring of 1995 with the Impaled Nazarene and Sadistik Execution, also under contract with Osmose . Chris "Mezzadurus" Gamble from Bloodstorm was hired as the session bass player for the tour . In the summer of the same year, the Third Storm of Cythraul tour followed through North America with Enslaved .

In late 1998, Absu began songwriting for their third studio album. In addition, Proscriptor became session drummer for Melechesh in autumn 1999, for which he had to travel to Amsterdam, and Judas Iscariot . Also in 1999 the video In the Visions of Ioldanach was produced, which however could not be published until 2000 after problems with the manufacturer. In the same year , the EP Hallstattian Swords was released on Blood, Fire, Death Productions, the label of war founder Imperial, which is dedicated to all Celtic warriors who fought for their pagan beliefs and against the Roman Empire. At the end of 2000 a European tour with Morbid Angel followed , in 2001 Tara was released.

Due to personal problems, Proscriptor left the band at short notice in 2001; when he returned Equitant had also got out. The band had meanwhile started writing songs for the next album, but the motivation of the remaining band members reached its low point when Proscriptor broke his left wrist in an accident in the summer of 2002. Although he learned to change his drumming in the following years and already recorded their album Sphynx with Melechesh in Europe at the end of 2002 / beginning of 2003 , when he returned to the USA in January 2003 to celebrate the birth of his child, Shaftiel had also left the band . Proscriptor therefore decided to let Absu rest until further notice.

In the following four years Proscriptor played in various metal bands and took care of his independent label Tarot Productions, founded in 2003 . At the beginning of 2007 he decided to reorganize Absu. However, the two band founders Shaftiel and Equitant were no longer interested in the band, so that the new line-up was completed in 2007 and 2008 by various musicians from befriended bands. The band quickly found a new record company with Candlelight Records . Proscriptor described the cooperation with Osmose as very good, but criticized the inadequate presence of the label in the USA. In February 2009, the fifth studio album was titled Absu published, the band again on the Sumerian mythology turned after off The Third Storm of Cythraul of Celtic mythology had dedicated. It is the first part of an album trilogy . In autumn 2009 a European tour with Razor of Occam followed . Guitarist Shandy "Aethyris" McKay left Absu in 2010 and switched to Pantheon I. In the summer of 2011 the group played at Party.San -Open-Air. With Abzu , the second part of the Absu trilogy was released in autumn 2011. In November 2011 a split EP with Infernal Stronghold, limited to 250 copies, was released, which was available on the joint tour of the two bands. In 2012 Absu released the single Hall of the Masters as a download . The music video shot for this is the second in the band's history after Manannán (1999, released on the VHS cassette In the Visions of Ioldánach ).

In October 2018, Vis Crom came out as transsexual. She combined her outing with a call to “all true heavy metal brothers and sisters ” to vote against the “republican scum” in the subsequent midterm elections in 2018 . The government under President Donald Trump had previously announced plans that in the determination and definition of the gender identity of a person alone sex should be relevant at birth. She called these plans a "literal inquisition against trans people". In another statement, she said about her outing that she had lost her band because of it and that her band members had to experience transphobia after her outing. The separation of the band was caused solely by their outing.

Music style and orientation

Absu's music was not based on the typical epic and bass-poor style of Northern European black metal bands, but instead contains elements of death metal , thrash metal and progressive rock . Influences were Kreator , Kiss , King Crimson , King Diamond and the magic or Magick . The heavy death metal riffs and deep growls on The Temples of Offal and Barathrum: VITRIOL were compared in Petrified with the style of Impaled Nazarene at the time, the riffs on the album Tara often with those of Slayer ; In his review of the album Absu, Götz Kühnemund from rock-hard magazine named the American death metal band Morbid Angel as a reference for the band's style.

The band described their style as "mythological occult metal"; Emperor Proscriptor Magikus emphasized that the lyrics are not about typical Death or Black Metal themes like dying, gore or Satan . Equitant stated in an Equimanthorn interview that he did not worship any gods or similar beings, only himself, the earth and the moon. The band showed acceptance of the anti-Christian appearance and the music of the Norwegian black metal scene, but described their declarations of war on bands like Beherit and Impaled Nazarene as "childish shit". The texts were borrowed from magic / magick, witchcraft from the 13th to 19th centuries and in a mythological context, cup romance , tarot , mythology and gnosticism and Sumerian mythology . The band named the Necronomicon and the "old men" mentioned there as further conceptual influences . The publications The Third Storm of Cythraul (1997), In the Eyes of Ioldánach (EP, 1998) and Tara (2001) are a trilogy that aims to bring the listener closer to Celtic mythology . The first edition of Tara contained a 40-page booklet with a lexicon that was supposed to explain the occult terms and proper names used by the band in their texts . The band identified Absu as both the Sumerian deity and divine personification of the underground freshwater ocean Abzu , after which it was named, and the abyss Cythraul from Celtic mythology. Combining both names, the band also referred to itself as the "Cythrául Klan of Absu". The band was interested in Thelema and was close to the Typhonian Order of the Englishman Kenneth Grant . There could have been no question of membership, however, since the Typhonian Order "expressly has no structure". Examples of the Thelema reference are the single-course hexagram on the cover of The Sun of Tiphareth and the label of the Tara CD and quotes from Aleister Crowley's The Book of Thoth in the song Fantasizing to the Third of the Pagan Vision (Quoth the Sky, Nevermore Act II) from the debut album and the Tara booklet.

Despite his temporary participation in the controversial band Judas Iscariot, Proscriptor denied the question "whether there had ever been any contact with Nazis in (black) metal", distanced himself on behalf of the band from right-wing tendencies in black metal and expressed his disinterest in politics.

Discography

Albums

Singles and EPs

  • The Temples of Offal , Gothic Records (1992)
  • ... And Shineth unto the Cold Cometh , Osmose Productions (1995)
  • In the Eyes of Ioldánach , Osmose Productions (1998)
  • Hallstattian Swords , Blood, Fire, Death Productions (2000)
  • L'attaque du tyran: Toulouse, le 28 avril 1997 , Agonia Records (2007)
  • Hall of the Masters , download single, Williams Street Records (2012)

Splits

Sampler contributions

  • Fantasizing to the Third of the Pagan Vision (Quoth the Sky, Nevermore) on Morbid Tunes of the Black Angels - Part I , The Way of Force (1994)
  • Never Blow Out the Eastern Candle on World Domination I , Osmose Productions (1995)
  • Of Celtic Fire, We Are Born / Terminus on World Domination II , Osmose Productions (1997)
  • Transylvania on A Call to Irons: A Tribute to Iron Maiden , Dwell Records (1998)
  • The Gold Torques of Ulaid on Gummo (Soundtrack) , Domino (1998)
  • Deathcrush on Originators of the Northern Darkness - A Tribute to Mayhem , Avantgarde Music (2001)
  • The Gold Torques of Uláid / Akhera Goiti Akhera Beiti on The Dark Psyche , The End Records (2006)

Music videos

  • In the Visions of Ioldánach , Osmose Productions (1999)
  • Hall of the Masters (2012)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b c Absu . In: Horns , No. 1, 1994.
  2. Myth. A chronology and erudition. Equimanthorn website, archived from the original on January 5, 2009 ; accessed on July 9, 2009 .
  3. ^ A b c Knowledge Of The Tyrants. Archived from the original on December 5, 2007 ; Retrieved December 8, 2009 .
  4. a b c Absu in the interview. metal.de, February 11, 2009, accessed on March 29, 2009 .
  5. a b Götz Kühnemund: Absu: The return of the beast . In: Rock Hard . No. 263 , p. 114 .
  6. a b Interview with Absu. (No longer available online.) Necroweb Magazine, March 21, 2009, formerly in the original ; Retrieved March 29, 2009 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.necroweb.de
  7. Wolf-Rüdiger Mühlmann: Absu: The very worst . In: Rock Hard . No. 294 , November 2011, p. 50 f .
  8. ^ Andrew Sacher: Absu member says "I lost my band when I came out to them". In: brooklynvegan.com. October 24, 2018, accessed October 25, 2018 .
  9. JOE THRASHNKILL: EX-ABSU GUITARIST COMES OUT AS TRANS, CALLS GOP POLICY “AN ATTEMPT TO EXTERMINATE”. In: toiletovhell.com. October 24, 2018, accessed October 25, 2018 .
  10. a b Reverend Samekh Anubis Amoun-Ra: ALARMING ECHO BEATS INTERVIEW WITH PROSCRIPTOR OF ABSU  ( page no longer available , search in web archives ).@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.fecalmatterdiscorp.com
  11. Thorns: ABSU- "Barathrum- Visita Interiora Terrae Rectificando Occultul Lapidem" . In: Petrified . No. 2 , p. 17 .
  12. Absu ( Memento from June 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive ).
  13. Ramon Claassen: ABSU . Tare .
  14. Sargon the Terrible: Review: Absu - Tara .
  15. ^ Gino Filicetti: Absu - Tara: Review .
  16. Tomer .L .: Reviews - Absu - Tara .
  17. Götz Kühnemund: Review of "Absu" . In: Rock Hard . No. 263 , p. 85 .
  18. Equimanthorn . In: Horns , No. 1, 1994.
  19. a b Blaash: Interview with Absu (originally from the Wheresmyskin
  20. Götz Kühnemund: Ingeniously crazy! In: Rock Hard . No. 171 .
  21. Thy Tyrannical Magick Begins ... Archived from the original on 4 December 2007 ; Retrieved December 8, 2009 .
  22. ^ Patrick Rennick: Proscriptor & Equitant of Absu. metalreview.com, October 19, 2005, archived from the original on February 10, 2010 ; Retrieved August 18, 2012 .
  23. Evil Lordress Anna: Absu- Ready to Conquer ( Memento of 26 April 2009 at the Internet Archive ).
  24. ^ Bryer Wharton: Absu: The Full Interview .
  25. Andreas Huettl, Peter-Robert König : SATAN - Jünger, Jäger and Justice . Kreuzfeuer Verlag, Augsburg 2006, ISBN 3-937611-01-0 , p. 127 .
  26. Andreas Huettl, Peter-Robert König: SATAN - Jünger, Jäger and Justice . Kreuzfeuer Verlag, Augsburg 2006, ISBN 3-937611-01-0 , p. 261 .
  27. Andreas Huettl, Peter-Robert König: SATAN - Jünger, Jäger and Justice . Kreuzfeuer Verlag, Augsburg 2006, ISBN 3-937611-01-0 , p. 272 .