Kev Rowland This is the fourth album from Aosoth, the name being taken from a goddess in the Pantheon of the Order of the Nine Angles. She represents passion and destruction and is depicted as having an arrow in her heart which she is not able to remove, otherwise death will occur. Originally formed as a side project for Antaeus, this trio have been working the Black Metal circuit for a number of years now with founding member MkM (vocals), BST (all instruments), and INRVI (originally on live guitars but now on bass). If I had been asked to pick where this band were from I certainly wouldn’t have said France, as what we have is a natural successor to Darkthrone with pure Norwegian evil pounding through the album from start to end.

While the music may be very much old school, thankfully the production isn’t and this allows the power and passion to come shining through (albeit in a very dark manner indeed). This is the sort of music that your mother warned you about, all Satan and growls but driven along by incredible heavy drumming and tight riffs. This is a focussed attack, yet they also understand the importance of slowing it down so that the heaviness is emphasised and not lost.

This is definitely worth of investigation for all those who enjoy their metal black and Satanic – Justin Bieber it ain’t.. www.agoniarecords.com

J-Man If there's one thing that I've discovered during my explorations of French black metal, it would have to be that the country is home to some of the genre's most adventurous and forward-thinking artists. Although Paris's Aosoth was a name previously unknown to me, the tremendous sounds heard on IV: An Arrow In Heart alone are enough to place them among France's more noteworthy acts; released in April of 2013 for Agonia Records, IV: An Arrow In Heart is Aosoth's fourth full-length release, as well as a masterful example of how to translate the bestial evil of early Norwegian black metal into a modern context. Aosoth demonstrates a remarkably strong and original take on the tried-and-true black metal formula throughout this observation, and any enthusiast of the genre deserves to hear it.

Unlike their countrymen in Blut Aus Nord and Deathspell Omega, Aosoth's music should not sound totally alien to listeners accustomed to classic acts like Mayhem and Darkthrone - this is still old school black metal at its core, and while the band does some intriguing things with the style, they don't push the genre in a particularly avant-garde direction. IV: An Arrow In Heart does feature some really dissonant riffing at times, though, and the band manages to incorporate subtle melodies and unique rhythmic ideas into their compositions as well. Whilst the guitars largely remain tremolo-picked to give the album a distinct black metal feel, many of the rhythmic patterns played by the drums and bass are quite innovative; there's not a shortage of blast beats here by any means, but Aosoth's ability to include other ideas into their compositions keeps IV: An Arrow In Heart interesting throughout its entire duration. I'd even hesitate to call the tracks "Broken Dialogue 1" and "Broken Dialogue 2" black metal, but their absolutely horrifying ambiance suits the mood of the album perfectly; the latter track contains some particularly evil spoken word sections.

Though its lengthy compositions and chaotic riff structure may seem a bit daunting at first, the songwriting contains enough variation to keep any black metal fan coming back for more. IV: An Arrow In Heart is a tremendously composed observation from start to finish, with its evil atmospheres and strong sense of style making for a very memorable listen. Aosoth has crafted an essential pickup for those who like their black metal unmistakably "old school", but still with plenty of fresh ideas to set it apart from the pack.

Vehemency All black metal groups out there trying to achieve truly morbid and abyssal sound: take heed of this album. Aosoth’s third full-length, simply titled as III, is probably the sickest sounding album I’ve heard in a long while, hands down. And this comes as no surprise really, knowing the band’s strong line-up relations with another French war machine Antaeus, so to depict III with an example, think of Blood Libels with even deeper and more droning guitar sound.

Compositionally, Aosoth delivers brilliance as well. The utterly profound and massive production works as a fitting base for the six evil pieces of black metal where tempos shift from slow menace to faster chaos. One guitar handles downtuned rhythms while another provides high-pitched discordance similar to Nightbringer, this seems to be the general structure throughout the album. The monstrous growls are handled convincingly as is the precise drumwork, battering the hell out of anything on its way.

Between the metal, brief moments of ambience appear (the beginning of ”III” having even an interesting piano pattern), providing quieter moments that are welcome due to the album’s heavy volume. And the volume is damn heavy indeed, just put a song from III to an audio editor and see how the album is master-wise pure loudness war. This is a little minus as the audio suffers from being forcedly loud, hence clipping a lot, but then again, it also works for the album’s chaotic nature.

I’m not familiar with Aosoth’s back catalogue (shame on me) so I don’t know how this compares to the band’s earlier output, but at least on its own III is one highlight of 2011’s first half, providing unresistable filth to my now-aching ears. Thus said, III is indeed a recommendable album to look into, and one of those reasons of writing reviews: to give publicity to albums that really deserve it.