For those unaware, the flag of Wales displays an ornate red dragon. It’s wholly distinct and undeniably one of the most badass flags on Earth. Wales also has more castles per square mile than any other nation, along with a geography defined by mountains, valleys and ancient ruins.
It’s appropriate, then, that the premiere hardcore export the country has to offer right now have come up with a new EP chocked-full of battle-ready riffs and fantasy-inspired lyrics.
Asidhara’s Echoes of the Ancients (out today) draws on this mystical concoction in service of four visceral and truly-epic tracks. Whereas the Cardiff band’s 2019 debut Killing Rites was a cavernous, feral collection, Echoes of the Ancients ventures into more expansive territory. If Asidhara’s debut was a howl from the castle dungeons, their latest is a war cry from atop a mountain’s peak.
Released on Welsh label Nuclear Family Records, Asidhara’s new EP overflows with charisma, joyous heaviness and metal-as-fuck scope. The band are one of many killer thrash-inspired hardcore bands coming out of the UK right now and Echoes of the Ancients will surely cement their place as a force to be reckoned with amidst this high-quality mini-scene.
I spoke to frontman Chuck Bradford about Asidhara’s origins, the Welsh hardcore scene and the fantasy influences on his lyrics.
Standard question first - where and when did Asidhara form?
Asidhara started in Cardiff in 2019 as a result of me and Adam (Smith, guitarist, also a member of emo act Casey) sending demos back and forth. We were both writing in a similar style and had the same vision of what band we’d like to create. So we recruited some mates, most of which we’d played music with before, and got straight to writing and recording Killing Rites.
Can you tell us a bit about Cardiff and the Welsh hardcore scene in general?
Like a lot of scenes, Cardiff hardcore seems to come in waves. Interest and dedication swells and dips, but right now hardcore in South Wales is as healthy as ever. Josh and Lucy are doing an amazing job with Nuclear Family Records, Joe Wag is constantly booking cool shows through CHF or South Wales Collective and what he’s building at The Cab in Newport is impressive.
There’s a good few bands knocking about at the moment too - Force Feed, Framework, Shell, Ysbrydnos and a new band called Violent Offence. They’re not all strictly hardcore but that’s what keeps the underground scene here interesting.
When you were writing and recording Echoes of the Ancients what did you want it to be and does the finished product match that vision?
We started with jokingly lofty ambitions, a full-length concept album was one conversation that was had, but we swiftly lowered our expectations, plus COVID slowed us down quite a bit. I do think this record is pretty close to what we wanted to write initially, we wanted some more melodic parts and to have more variation throughout songs. It’s definitely the vibe we were aiming for.
The final track “The Battle Hymn of Il A’tir” is especially brilliant, do you guys feel more increasingly-more confident writing these types of longer tracks?
Thanks! I’m stoked you dig that one, it’s probably my personal favorite on the new record. I can’t remember if we were intentionally aiming to write lengthier tracks, I know we were keen to stretch ourselves a bit more musically. I think there was a conversation about utilizing ideas better, sitting on them for longer or bringing them back later in the song but with slight variations.
The more we pushed ourselves the more we felt comfortable with working on longer tracks that offer more variety in their dynamics, all while maintaining the sounds we felt represented Asidhara.
There’s a ton of awesome fantasy influence on the lyrics, titles and general vibe of this release. What kind of stuff outside of music was an influence on it?
Ah man, I went down the rabbit hole of swords & sorcery over the last couple of years. It was always something I found interesting but this was next level. I was reading quite a lot when we were writing. I was reading Robert E. Howard, Michael Moorcock, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tolkien etc - anything with swords I was into. Same with films at the time I was watching Deathstalker, Conan [the Barbarian], Red Sonja, Beastmaster and all that stuff.
I also was playing Dungeons & Dragons during COVID. Me and a few mates would have a weekly Zoom call and use Roll20 and do some campaigns. Those sessions probably contributed to the themes in the record.
When I was writing this record I was trying to create these sword and sorcery stories of my own as metaphors for what I’m feeling or what I’ve been witnessing, rather than being completely transparent with my words.
You recently featured on The Coming Strife Records’ killer UK Hardcore Comp, how did that inclusion come about and what’s your favorite non-Asidhara tracks on it?
The Coming Strife approached us and it was really well timed for us. We were going into the studio at about that time and had a song that needed a little more work and didn’t fully fit the vibe of Echoes of the Ancients, so I think we wrapped up the 12” and were back in the studio recording “March of the Bastard Reich” a week or two later.
There’s a lot of great tracks on that compilation, but a few that stood out to me personally were the tracks by Upraised, Final Form, and Realm of Torment.
What shows and festivals do you have lined up this summer and across the rest of the year? What ones are you particularly excited about?
We play Don Fest, Aggression From the South Fest and the Grove Street/Realm of Torment 10 year anniversary shows this spring along with a few others that have in the pipeline.
I know we were discussing a release show for Echoes of the Ancients and trying to get across to Ireland at some point this year.
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Echoes of the Ancients is out now via Nuclear Family Records.
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Tagged: asidhara
