Asmodaeus’ bleak and weary style immediately gaining praise from the faithful. Gasps and guitar strings, sighs and cheap synths, drum machines and dirge; a superb record from one the great unknowns of the 1980s.
European synth labels do not seem to enjoy the productivity of their American counterparts, nor do they seem to enjoy the same media attention. Antwerp based Walhalla Records has been dropping releases here and there since 2010. But what the label lacks in volume it has more than made up for in quality. Across its catalog some of the most obscure, and brilliant, wave musicians have been resurrected. One artist that Walhalla unearthed on their seminal Underground Belgian Wave Vol 1 was Asmodaeus, his bleak and weary style immediately gaining praise from the faithful. Fast forward four years, or some thirty years since Asmodaeus was active, and Lies and Logic has arrived.
Fifteen tracks make up the LP, few broaching the four minute mark. These are terse, sharp and often embittered pieces of burgeoning electronics, shoegaze and post-punk angst. The production is intentionally grainy, reflecting the despondency of both instruments and lyrics. That dejection is immediately on display. Hopelessness reigns in the joy drained “Radiation Dance,” a version that sounds like a demo. Shadows are cast across the selection. Strings rumble, breached by stark vocals for the emotion rinsed “Warsaw.” Perhaps the overriding blackness of the record can be summed up in the raw irony of “Buchenwald.” Depression and gloom are inescapable, from the lilting unrequited love of “Lost” to the sneering speed of “Thanks A Lot.” At points tracks transform into contorted poetry, pain-riddled ballads accompanied by spinning oscillations such as “Slut.” The LP culminates in the frenetic fuzz of “Meet You In Poland,” distortion and distance blurring into a cheerless curtain close.
I’d been waiting for this album from time, and I haven’t been disappointed. Asmodaeus was not a clean cut artist, far from it. His sound is barren, tired and wonderfully human. Gasps and guitar strings, sighs and cheap synths, drum machines and dirge; a superb record from one the great unknowns of the 1980s.
Lies and Logic is available on Walhalla.
