Friday Full-Length: Asteroid, III
It was a surprise to dig back and find it’s been a decade since Swedish fuzzy, jammy, bluesy heavy psych rockers Asteroid released 2016’s III (review here), but there’s no arguing with the math. The seven-song/36-minute long-player was issued Fuzzorama — the label run by Truckfighters which had also stood behind their 2006 split with Blowback (discussed here), their 2007 self-titled debut (discussed here) and its follow-up, 2010’s II (discussed here, review here) — and six years after the LP before it, III felt like a gift, not the least because the band returned from a hiatus to make it.
The Örebro-based trio — guitarist/vocalist Robin Hirse, bassist/vocalist Johannes Nilsson at the core, with drummer Elvis Campbell on the recording, but in and out of the band over their time; he was replaced by Jimmi Kolscheen shortly after III was made — had always had vibe on their side. Sweetly, organically melodic, warm in tone and mellow but not staid of groove, they had evolved from the more straight-ahead songs of their debut by the time they got around to the third album, but always kept the spirit of not overdoing it, of mellow-hangs and letting the depth in their approach speak for itself. III could be a fuzzy shuffle as in “Til’ Dawn,” or a swinging shove as in “Them Calling,” and it boasts what might be the outright heaviest moment the band ever had in centerpiece “Wolf and Snake,” but everywhere they went in sound, they brought a sense of casual (stoned) class and of live performance that couldn’t help but draw the songs together. Across all three records, but especially as the material got more complex over time, the latter would be one of their greatest assets as a group.
But it’s not like they were keeping secrets in terms of methodology. Tone, melody and songwriting were the foundations of the magic, brought together with a marked chemistry that, listening back to III now, can’t help but bring a smile to my face, whether it’s the chill in the pulled lead notes of opener “Pale Moon,” which comes in so smoothly around its fading-in drums, or the more direct, organ-y sound wrought in the subsequent “Last Days,” which I still think might be a waltz in its start-stop verse, but moves fluidly into a fuller-fuzzed crescendo without giving up its easy pace to do it.
Among Asteroid‘s releases, III was the most atmospheric and the most engaging on a level of mood, and even something as simple-seeming as an upward-strummed accent in “Til’ Dawn” proved effective in making a standout moment. 
That is to say, they could grab you with an overarching nod or with a minute detail, sprawl out a jam or dig into the procession of a verse, but there was always going to be something to both distinguish each track from its surroundings and add to the front-to-back flow of the record. And as they grew, III was arguably (to wit, here’s me arguing it) the most vibrant demonstration of character they would manifest, though that’s not to take away from either of the LPs preceding it.
“Wolf and Snake,” in addition to being the heaviest here on balance, is also the longest inclusion at six and a half minutes. With a bluesier vocal, a shredder of a fuzz solo and a vibrant, jammy sensibility, it’s an obvious highlight, but as much for the feeling of reach in terms of the band’s overall progression and their blend of psychedelia and more esoteric elements. 10 years later, it’s a sentimental listen — which is true of the album across the span, admittedly — but from the mellow outset through the shove and into the aforementioned apex and comedown, it’s also a masterpiece, perhaps in part because the band never built on it on another release.
On the record, it’s followed by “Silver and Gold,” which redirects from the relative heft and centers vocal harmonies from Hirse and Nilsson over quiet guitar, and even in its volume swell, it maintains a folkish presence, likewise gorgeous and functional to give listeners a breath between “Wolf and Snake” and “Them Calling,” which is a sweeping sing-along hook surrounding by choice vibe, darker in tone but no less fluid or engrossing. The lyrics, “Now I stand at the gates of hell/Waiting for you to arrive/I hear them calling, calling for me/And I want you here by my side,” stand among the most memorable on III, which is saying something in itself, and the instrumental push that accompanies is low enough to stand up to “Wolf and Snake” without trying to do the same thing; an airier solo in the back half is more psych-tinged and thus makes the turnaround to the final chorus all the more satisfying.
That turn and arrival-at-peak leaves “Mr. Strange” somewhat hanging on its own at the end of the album, but a clear strum and ’70s groove topped with a duly soulful vocal make themselves welcome. It’s reminiscent of the first two records as well in its jammy takeoff and “Whoa-oh-oh” hook, though the way they again brought the song back from its headed-out bridge is one more confirmation of the growth in their project. They finished riding that groove out with a last cymbal wash and then it was over, short at 36 minutes but wanting nothing in terms of how the band used that time.
I was lucky enough to see Asteroid on a couple occasions, the last of which was at Høstsabbat 2018 (review here) in Oslo, which was also a reemergence from a hiatus. So far as I know they played Truckfighters Fuzz Festival in 2021, and were slated to tour with Truckfighters and Greenleaf in early 2022, though I’m honestly not sure if that happened, given both pandemic and the instability of the band by then. It’s kind of sad that in the 10 years since this record came out, Asteroid weren’t there to ascend to headliner status as they seemed primed to do, and that they didn’t get to continue to evolve from this point to whatever might have come next, but I’ve also learned to never say never. Speaking as a fan, a return at any point would be welcome.
As always, I hope you enjoy.
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Another week. We still don’t know where The Pecan is going to go to school in the Fall. We had a district-needs-to-cover-its-ass meeting with a place I wouldn’t send her to if they paid me to do it yesterday, and that was more needless bullshit, and in the meantime, the school I actually want to send her to has gone AWOL in getting back to us. No doubt everybody’s busy, no doubt everybody has real-life stuff in addition to their job, no doubt everybody involved is ADHD AF, I’m just sick of jumping through hoops and want to get something, anything, ever, settled once and for all. Not this week, apparently.
We had big storms last weekend. The Patient Mrs., The Pecan and I were in Connecticut last weekend for the 4th of July at her mom’s place on the shoreline, and it was just too hot. There’s no insulation there, no A/C, and it became a question of survival, so we split. But we were on the way home, coming across the (still new in my mind) Tappan Zee Bridge with the Colgera theme from Tears of the Kingdom playing at high volume and streaks of lightning shooting from cloud to cloud — friggin’ epic, in other words — and when we got back, there was no power. Neighbors lost trees, and there’s still debris around, but we went to a local hotel for the night and came back the next morning after checkout to find the lights back on. A miracle. We’re headed back north today, complete with my mother-in-law’s dog, who is staying with us again for like two weeks and remains a pain in the ass.
I’m complaining, in complainy spirits I guess. Big change. But I’m getting through the day, thinking about starting to go swimming on the regular, like, for exercise, again, which when I can find a place to do it I always enjoy. The gym down the way is all cops, but there’s a couple hotels that do memberships, and honestly what I’m looking for is a place I can go do laps without other people. If that’s a local hotel at 6AM, that suits me pretty well, actually.
We head north again in like an hour from when I’m writing, need to pack clothes, food, the Switch, etc. I haven’t done a Zelda update in a bit and I haven’t had time to play much, so there you go, but I’m sporadically enjoying The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales when The Pecan isn’t on the Switch 2 and I have an opportunity to play. It’s oldschool and fun and light and the characters say nice things to each other. Cozy and feels like a kids game for middle-aged weirdos. Again, suits me pretty well.
I’m getting the side-eye from The Patient Mrs., so am going to leave it there and do what I need to to get out before traffic starts to build. Have a great and safe weekend. We’re into summer now. Don’t forget to hydrate.
FRM.
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Tags: Asteroid, Asteroid III, Fuzzorama Records, III, Örebro, Sweden
