Review by UnhinderedbyTalent for Barshasketh - Antinomian Asceticism (2025)

Six years ago, Barshasketh released their fourth full length album (s/t) and I sat looking at it everytime it played, unable to fathom why I kept coming back.  A few critical listens later (three years worth to be precise) and I finally settled on a four star rating for the Mgla influenced melodicism and Sargeist-like chaos of the album.  Come 2025 and Barshasketh have me in pretty much the same position with album number five.  I have been listening to Antinomian Asceticism for about three weeks in all (even plugging in some earphones for some rare close time with it) and will be the first to admit that I am very much on the fence with it still.  It is not like there is not much to like here, even during the first track I am already reminded of Aosoth (one of my favourite French bm bands).  As the album goes on, those Sargeist vibes are strong again and I even get a hint of Akhlys in the music here (one of my all time favourite bm acts).

Despite these pleasing outliers, I still have all these splinters in my buttocks from this fence.  Whilst there are most definitely bits that I do not like (those chants are a little too verbose for me - bordering on over-demented, if such a term exists), Antinomian Asceticism has some absolute bangers also with the likes of Lebenswelt Below and Charnel Quietism both doing a superb job of ensuring that the middle section of the record is a real high point.  Yet, it lacks any memorability for me.  Spectral Wound do a far better job of letting melodicism rule the day and write better songs as a result of it for me.  In a way, whilst I acknowledge that Barshasketh overall is a very different band in style and approach, they are still a bit lost on me I am sorry to say

When the album finishes, I have no desire to revisit it; almost as if it is too arcane in nature for me to justify the reward for the effort I put in to try and figure it out.  As tightly played as it is (these guys know how to play) and as meaty as the production job makes it sound this time around, iteration number five of Barshasketh still presents a challenge for me.  In many ways, I want to like it a lot more than I do and maybe the repeated plays throughout the next few years that I dedicated to their previous album will eventually glean a similar outcome in terms of the rating, however for now I just cannot fully get to grips with Antinomian Asceticism.