Antinomian Asceticism

Barshasketh - “Antinomian Asceticism” 2025

Barshasketh
“Antinomian Asceticism”

Origin: Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand / Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom

Genre: Black Metal

Label: World Terror Committee

The concept of Antinomianism is an ages olde rebuttal to the notion that religious people - namely Christians - are required to live by an established code of morality or a set of religious laws. Within the scope of Antinomianism, the follower is saved by grace and therefore allowed to live however he/she deems fit, whether it be a depraved life or not. I can dig it… What a concept for a black metal album! Fresh and ponderous indeed.

Barshasketh formed in 2007 in New Zealand as a solo project masterminded by one Krigeist before he pulled stakes and ventured over to Scotland where he formed a band to operate under the Barshasketh banner. Thus far, they have four LPs to boast within their discography with their fifth looming just beyond the turning of the annual. On January 9, 2025, Barshasketh will unveil “Antinomian Asceticism” via underground Rexes WTC Productions.

“Antinomian Asceticism” conceptually challenges the idea of absolute God-given morality and disassociates from Christian Nihilistic Asceticism; formulating the Schopenhauerian notion of a metaphysical will (an essence within) as opposed to the conscious will. Brilliant minds such as Charles Darwin and Friedrich Nietzsche would later build on this concept. Deep stuff here and Krigeist is obviously a studious individual. His natural IQ is only matched by his astute black metal sensibilities and “Antinomian Asceticism” can only be compared in my opinion to the work of Greece’s Thy Darkened Shade and their brilliantly complex brand of occult-driven BM: bewildering and intricate, grandiose and epic - the apotheosis of intellectual black metal intuition. “Radiant Aperture” - like a maelstrom of the spirit churning and spewing out from within. Surging and pulsating passages set to commanding percussive onslaughts. The sheer majesty of it like a celestial being radiating all power and magnificence through the cosmos. Transcendence is the word here.

The darkly ominous, doom-reveling “Lebenswelt Below” hits like Mortuus with a sense of torqued undertow before frantic riffing and fevered blast beats ensue. Horrifically intense; the driving energy behind an impassioned ritual incarnate to send you reeling through parallel metaphysical planes; tearing through the fabric of reality now and redefining everything you thought you knew about black metal. There’s a twilight to Armageddon feel to every cut on this record: rapturous, cataclysmic and true to the notion that all must end as “Charnel Quietism” and the titular track unfold to both aggressive and subliminal segments. The former is a dreamlike escape into extraterrestrial scapes and the latter provides an equally hypnotic experience - a slow-burning ritualistic exchange during the opening minutes before labyrinthine compositions unfurl; all swirling and tempestuous over you like a cosmic storm as it penetrates the atmosphere; laying waste to everything in its path. This is black metal for the exacting enthusiast who demands a certain level of intelligence from his music. Forget the olde Devil-worshiping stuff and prepare to scale metaphysical plateaus that stretch far beyond imagination into the plane of transcendence from physical limitations.

This is black metal evolution! Albums like “Antinomian Asceticism” break all the boundaries and make conventional black metal records sound as bland as vanilla. It’s in the energy of the music: palpable and as surreal as an acid trip, and accompanied by adeptness that far supersedes that of most other bands. And the philosophical nature of it just makes it that much more compelling. The will to exist on a plane far beyond the confines of morality and to challenge the supposed will of God himself! True liberation and trueness to all that makes us human. Here’s to the evolution of black metal…

9/10

Experience “Radiant Aperture” from “Antinomian Asceticism” by Barshasketh right here as presented by WTC productions:

https://youtu.be/BIg4YczmZDE?si=H1_l8EzPeflb68FN

~Jeger