ASCETA

What a weird, mysterious sleeve pic. Yes this appearance explains much for such a wondrous album. "Asceta" was launched in late 2022 as the debut album by a Santiago-oriented chamber rock octet ASCETA. Thanks to a suggestion by one of ASCETA founders Rod and my prog friend Ian, I could bump into such a fascinating creation (thanks both!). I don't know if 2023 would be a happy year or a tough one, sadly under covid pandemic situation in Japan, but this album has healed me enough from the beginning of the year.

Such a deep, tight combination of melodic lines and rhythmic bases comes up on us. "Fobia" should be phobia in English I guess, and a complicated dark theatrical sound readout is pretty suitable for the meaningful title. Complex phrases created with various instruments, especially weird strings and fragile winds, catch our heart strictly. Unearthly silence amongst the melodies would drive us into another madness. Repetitive incarnations of anxiety and impressive intonations are lyrical and somewhat predictive. The following "Virusmosis" might claim the current situation as mentioned above ... Quite critical viewpoints tinged with uptempo sound potential can be heard, but contrary to the crisis, their plays cannot be disrupted nor warped at all. Guess around this track is their strong intention for stabilizing their mental, physical, and musical condition. "Gigante Microscópico" gets started with an eerie, mystical sound / noise collective. Wondering what the song title means but their tightly junctional sound discharge blows such a query out completely. In the middle part a battle of clarinette and bassoon is well matured and splendid. We are relieved and encouraged by some balanced melody lines between dissonant avantgarde phrases. More painful soundscape can be felt via "Los De Afuera" but every player should be merged and united with others perfectly, not be assertive nor explosive. And the latter part of "Ameba" is pretty as sensitive and elegant as Chilean wine (my love). Such a smooth acoustic expression is also one of their brilliant characteristics, methinks. "Movimineto Estático" is another gemstone featuring synthesizer-based dream collection. Swinging jazzy atmosphere flavours incredibly charming. There should be our comfort deeply in this track. On the contrary, we can enjoy the most critical movement in the last track "Sistemas Alterados", that consists of dangerous noisy punctures and tighten-up enthusiastic sound collectives of dissected melodies and deeply heavy rhythms. Massively appropriate for the epilogue is middle-tempo high-profile sound energy itself.

ASCETA's magnificent creativity and dynamic mentality should be appreciated by all chamber rock fans. Finally a happy new 2023.