ASHENT was born in the 2001 when
two Italian brothers, Gianpaolo and Onofrio Falanga, decided
to create a band that could express their idea of music,
mixing together all the influences of their artistic background,
in order to create songs influenced by extreme metal and
prog-metal. After few months, keyboardist Paolo Torresani,
vocalist Max Zhena, 2nd guitarist Thomas Giro and drummer
J.C. joined the band.
In 2003 the band recorded their self-titled
demo, 4 songs that showed an original mix of progressive
metal, some elements of sophisticated power metal and an
unusual extreme attitude. "Ashent" became soon
one of the most acclaimed demos in the underground metal
scene, gifting to the band the status of “new revelation”:
the four-tracks was named demo of the month and was awarded
with excellent ratings by dozens of magazines and web-zines
throughout Europe and United States.
A
fter some excellent live performances, a change of musicians
gave to the band the best line-up possible in order to sign
in the 2005 a contract with the veteran Italian label Lucretia
Records. The new line up saw drummer Davide Buso, virtuoso
guitarist Cristiano Bergamo and vocalist Steve Braun join
the band.
With a new stable line-up, Ashent
started to compose their debut album, 2006’s "Flaws
of Elation" (Lucretia Records). Home to ten songs with
an original mixture of energy, impact, catchy melodies and
shredding arrangements, that demonstrated the high level
of ASHENT’s personality as composers and musicians.
In just a few months the album sold out and Ashent received
a fantastic reception and praise on the live circuit, giving
to the band a solid fan-base.
After
a year and a half spent supporting the release of the first
album, they decided it was time to push themselves to compose
new material. During 2008 the band came back at New Sin
Studio and recorded their successor, entitled “Deconstructive”
a prog experience with many influences and a maturity of
song writing style that can only be classified as those
of Ashent. Produced by Falanga brothers and Luigi Stefanini,
the 12 tracks will be released worldwide on March 20th 2009
by Lion Music, the Finnish label unanimously considered
as a leading force within progressive and power metal circles.
