Azell - Astralis

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Azell is a doom/sludge band from Louisville, Kentucky that formed in 2022.  Their latest album, “Astralis,” is their second full-length album.  I was a fan of their debut, “Death Control,” but didn’t review.  

I’m happy I’m able to review this second effort of theirs because HOLY SHIT it is a magnificent beast.  If someone put you inside a barrel full of acid spitting super piranha then rolled you off a cliff, that ordeal still wouldn’t be as quarter violent or extreme as the doomed-out sludge contained within this album’s 11 track, 55-minute runtime.

Azell is actually a duo consisting of Courtney and David Napier, a husband and wife who decided that playing extreme doom is the true American thing to do.  It isn’t but it goddam should be if this album is any evidence to the matter. 

Both of them supply the vocals but Courtney plays the bass while David handles the guitars and drums. In their skilled hands, each of these instruments are a bludgeoning tool that just gets more intense and heavier as the seconds tick by. 

The production/mix is spot on:  it’s very robust, powerful, and captures each blood-splattered, hammered note.  Basically, it sounds immense and bottomless—what more could I want in doom/sludge?  ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

The album opens with “From the Womb of Oblivion,” and it indeed took me to oblivion.  The opening riffs are utterly encompassing—the bass and the guitar seem to be having a battle of who can be the heaviest and they must still be doing that because no way they found a clear winner.  The drums are rock solid and thick enough in their own right to hold up all this considerable weight. The vocal attack is crazy, adding a bit of depravity to the song so that listening to it feels like the loss of sanity.  

“When Darkness Unfolds,” pours on the sludge like molten lava with the cadence of a big ol slab of doom.  The drums hit at just the right moments to create a wall of sound that is surreal as it is punishing.  The vocal cadence is surprisingly catchy but just as visceral as the instruments backing it up. The part just after the two-minute mark is one head banging moment after another, a monolith of riffs, riffs, and more riffs. 

The album just gets better.  “Hostage to the Machine,” is the halfway point, give or take, and it’s a very biting statement of the album’s powerful vision of uncompromising extremity.  The guitars/bass seem to crawl low, like a snake stalking its prey.  The vocals are a blast of frenzy energy that present a stark image.

The band is just as effective at blazing through as evident in “Invasion of Self,” the shortest song on the album but punishing all the same.   This song reminds me of Crowbar on steroids.  Is that possible? This song makes a good case for it being so, especially near the end when it slows down and the monstrous notes have time to sink in. 

I love it when the last song on an album finishes on a high note.  “Time Slows To Nothing,” is beastly.  I love the buildup, the tension that is just hanging on by a thread!  It has a unique atmosphere, especially near the end, and is something different…a great way to recover from the beatdown of the previous songs.

Azell’s “Astralis,” is a testament to the power of doom/sludge and just how heavy it can get.  Any fan of extreme music, any fan of music that’s so abrasive that normal people just won’t understand, needs to get this album now. 


Rating:  Excellent










Comments

  1. AnonymousAugust 10, 2025 at 5:59 PM

    Thank you so much for taking the time to review and listen to our album! It means the world to both of us and hopefully you got the accompanying up page novella. Some people are saying they didn't get it in their press packet. If not we'd love to send it to you, just let us know on any of our socials!

    ReplyDelete

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