Azell, the Louisville duo of David and Courtney Napier,
have been hammering their way through the underground since 2022, building
their own planet-sized niche in heavy music. Their debut “Death Control”
already hinted at something massive brewing, a collision of doom metal, sludge,
and cosmic horror. With “Astralis”, they take that vision further into the
void, crafting a concept album that’s tied to an accompanying novella. The
story, dripping with dark science fiction and existential dread, adds depth to
the experience, but it’s the music that does the real storytelling, slow,
crushing, and absolutely unrelenting.
The opening
track “From The Womb Of Oblivion” lays down Azell’s
signature atmosphere: thick riffs that move like tectonic plates and vocals
that alternate between venomous growls and cavernous roars. The production,
handled by David Napier himself, makes
everything sound enormous, as if the guitars were recorded inside collapsing
stars. The pacing is merciless, with songs such as “Monolithic Terror” and “When
Darkness Unfolds” pushing forward like massive machinery grinding through
cosmic ruins.
By the time
“The End Is Inevitable” and “Time Slows To Nothing” arrive, the sense of
collapse is complete. The latter is especially haunting, as if the album itself
is dissolving into silence. Every instrument sounds like it’s being dragged
into gravity’s final pull. Even the small touches, a sudden saxophone or an
echoing sample, add a ghostly shimmer before everything fades into darkness.
The
production is massive but not overblown, the vocals have a rawness that keeps
the music human, and the riffs are titanic. “Astralis” is the sound of the
world ending in slow motion, a sludge metal odyssey that doesn’t just describe
oblivion, it drags you straight into it.
Score: 7.0
