after i was totally blown away by astra's sophomore full length called "the black chord", i was anxious to get their first album. entitled "the weirding" from 2009. it was released quite some time ago and so i wasn't too hopeful to get some coloured vinyl for the retail price. i searched the internet nevertheless and actually found a shop with some copies left in stock. i spoke of them in the last astra post, the name is white dwarf mailorder from germany.
i was quite happy to get a copy hassle free and without the bitter aftertaste of high international shipping rates. the guys from white dwarf rock packed the record superbly and here we are with astra's debut released on rise above records. musically this a bit different to the second record. the first difference that immediately struck me after the first complete listen is the pace. "the weirding" is way calmer than its younger counterpart.
it has a lot more atmospheric parts and gives the listener more breathing space. at first i found this to be a bit boring but after more spins i really came to like it. the tension that is building throughout the faster parts is more intense and "the weirding" has a distinct conceptional feel to it. the duration of almost eighty minutes add to that feeling. at the end of the day i still prefer "the black chord" but "the weirding" has really grown on me.
rise above records from the u.k. did a few pressings for this album over the years. four all in all. there are quite a few cool colour varaitions out there and i probably would have made my decision towards a different colour, if they came for reasonable money but under the circumstances i am happy with my 180gr clear blue double vinyl. the artwork is really nice. it matches the album title quite well with its weird trippy/spacey images. fourth pressing out of 250 copies with a poster. some still available at white dwarf. rise above. 2009/2012.
