Everything he creates is pervaded by a morbid and romantic spell imminent to the works of Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Baudelaire, H.P. Lovecraft or Lord Byron. Equally effective, this architect of Gothic Novel Rock designs horribly beautiful cathedrals of dark music since the last breaths of the former millennium, painting sublime castles in the sky with dark clouds and continually burns himself to ashes in the reverberation of his own possession. For possessed he is, possessed by his visions, his art, possessed by his words and notes. Sometimes, genius and maniac and irrevocably chained together. To grasp the meaning of this, however, it needs a compendium like „Per Aspera Ad Aspera – This Is Gothic Novel Rock“. 15 years of musical borderlining proving one thing despite all the Memento Mori imagery: There is beauty in abhorrence, there is light in the shadows.
This anthology is bacchanaly beautiful like a Gothic Novel of the 19th century and clad in a magnificent folio. Two records share a total duration of almost 160 minutes – well, a look at the first 15 years certainly takes some time. Despite its potential for haunting melodies, this collection of musical short stories is not to be seen as your ordinary best of, but more as a blend of some of ASP's most prominent pieces of musical poetry.
And what's coming after that? The stars? Or even more toil? Join us and we will find out.