astra - the weirding

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.

astra - the black chord

astra is not only the name of a famous beer from hamburg, it is also the name of a prog rock band from the united states, which i managed to overlook in the past. when i listen to "the black chord" now, i cannot say how this happened. these guys are that good. i stumbled upon them via a video link over at youtube. i don't know what i was listening to in the first place but i saw the thumbnail with the cover art in the side bar and it looked appealing.

i clicked it and before the first song "cocoon" ended, i knew that i had to have a hard copy in my possession. after i informed myself of the release date, label and vinyl versions, i came to the conclusion to not waste any time. rise above released this already four years ago and due to the reputation of the label i figured it might be difficult to still get a copy from a mailorder. furthermore i fell in love with the splattered brown vinyl edition of the first press and all these factors together seemed like i was doomed to drop some serious cash.

in the end it wasn't that hard to get my desired copy. i found a few german d.i.y. stoner/doom metal shops like white dwarf that still carried second press copies and finally one, cyclone empire, that had one of the brown splatter copies to offer. i bought it via their discogs account but if i had known that they had their own mailorder metal-recycler.de, i would have gotten the record for one euro less. ok, i think i'll survive this.

the whole album is the shit. i hear some between the buried and me and cynic influences, especially in those crazy, quirky synth-laden prog parts. then they have these really nice and easy-going seventies rock parts with flutes and all that topped with richard vaughan's lovely voice make "the black chord" a beast which sinks its claws into you to not ever let go. check it out here. the presentation is hot too. the gatefold comes with an integrated booklet with pictures of each band member and houses this nice 180gr brown splatter beauty. excellent! 500 copies made. rise above records. 2012.