Well, what good can be said of Asgaroth’s “Red Shift”? Unlike most writers in the metal community, I seem to be very harsh and mean in my treatment of metal releases. Maybe I’m wrong but I just don’t believe in misguiding listeners and buyers in order to stay “true to the community”. My job as a critic is first and foremost to make an analysis of the art work at hand, and then evaluate to what extent I think this art work is good or poor.

That being said, I must say I’m excited to announce that this is actually one hell of a good metal release - it’s been a while since I picked up a record, put on the first track and felt blown away or the surging of blood in my veins by the overall production quality, tightness of the riff, vocals, drumming and overall surgical, cynically cold feel. And this is summer. And I have a burning hot fever. It practically feels like a cold Norwegian winter again when I put this thing on the stereo - in my opinion, one of the greatest strengths of the metal genre must be its irrefutable power to invoke a very strong sense of atmosphere in the listener. Asgaroth have captured this essence of fast-paced, hard-hitting metal and produced a generally pretty nifty disc. My only complaint would be the use of keyboards/piano, but it doesn’t have much of a negative impact on the overall quality of “Red Shift”. Receive it, ye metallers!

Year Released: 2002
Label: Peaceville Records
Related Link: Asgaroth
Date Reviewed: 2004-07-02
Author: Andreas