The way elements of the German hardcore scene have seemingly transmogrified and slips between styles seems somehow weirder than most. I get the impression of a polluted gene pool ridden with slavering mutants, dragging their knuckles and slapping their lips as they shudderingly evolve from screamo to crust and onto black metal, retaining elements of each while sloughing others rudely away. Ancst sound like one of those screamy crust bands gone black metal. Riffs are tremolo picked, and while there’s a sense of the grandiose about proceedings musically the vocals are a fairly standard rrröööaaarrr. Rather than the same band missing an ‘n’ and a ‘c’, Ast are a rather different beast. They might still be hewn from something cold and obsidian, but it sounds a lot less polished and considerably less together. They have a glacial vibe about them and deal in dissonance more than they do scything melodies, so as a guess I’d suggest they maybe listen to Deathspell Omega more than they do Emperor. Overall I’d say they win out as the dynamics are more fluid and interesting, but whether either band can compete with what’s being done at black metal’s more brutal and/or outré fringes is quite another matter.
