Asterous
Animus
Asterous is a duo from Vancouver that focuses on melodic and theatric rock - borderline metal - with “R” on the keyboards & vocals, and “D” on guitars & backing vocals. They released a five song EP in 2021, and have followed that up with a string of singles. They’re latest, Animus, is their most ambitious to date - more diverse than their previous tracks, in our opinion - here’s our review.
Bit of a slow and ominous start. They build a nice dark mood over the first eight measures or so before they peel back the EQ on the snare hits that set up the vocals. Lyrically, it’s a dark as you suspect - the proverbial fall from grace - and the music matches the lyrical mood. The chorus takes the chord progression into overdrive with a series of arpeggio’s that bump up the blood pressure just enough, while the lyrics talk about how much they enjoy kicking you when you’re down, love it. Through these first two sections, we have to say that our favorite elements revolve entirely around the vocals. The harmonies are solid, and not what we think they’d be - we like surprises like that. Also love the juxtaposition of R’s voice (her alto and soprano), over the heaviness of all the other tones. It makes for a very wide track - very full.
Second verse does a great job of keeping the energy up, while keeping the focus on the vocals. Love how the lyrics are more story-like and conversational than they are poetic. Not everything rhymes, and for this style, it doesn’t have to - it adds to the drama. The lower harmonies are killer, they sound like Satan himself jumped into the booth. Before the second chorus, we get a solid solo from D that splits between some heavy Soundgarden like tones, before the arpeggio’s melt away what’s left of our face. Love the controlled chaos at the end - it gives off a visual of the actors leaving the stage and the curtain closing. I hope they pitch this out for some sync licensing - it’s perfect for the darker dramas in the film and TV world.
Make sure you scroll down to check out their socials and other cuts. Love the guitar solo on Apprentice and the dark ballad feel of the entire track. Like Animus, Listen starts off with a brooding set-up, but has some elements of funk that you wouldn’t expect. Great harmonies on this track. Murder the Machine is the track that places them squarely in the metal genre, like Evanescence meets Queensrÿche. It’ll be great to see what they do next, it’s cool to see this type of music coming from just a duo.