Band:	Ainsoph
Album:	Affection & Vengeance
Style:	Post-Hardcore, Post-metal
Release date:	March 14, 2025
A review by:	musclassia

01. Cowardice
02. The Beaten Path Made Flesh
03. Zeal Like A Timeless Vacuum
04. Affection
05. Call To The Fire
06. Vengeance
07. Seven Mouths In The Neck
08. Purple Curtains

Although its most renowned metal exports have predominantly been in the realm of symphonic metal, the Netherlands has produced a few bands in recent years that are doing quite interesting things within or adjacent to black metal, including the likes of Fluisteraars, Vuur & Zijde and Laster; Ainsoph are another such example.

That said, Ainsoph are the least reliant on black metal of any of these acts; it forms just one piece of a jigsaw puzzle that is also built out of post-rock/metal, shoegaze, post-punk and gothic rock. Vuur & Zijde utilize a similar combination of styles, but Ainsoph distinguish themselves from that group through an even greater emphasis on finding the beauty and tranquillity within extremity. Coming five years after debut record Ω - V, Affection & Vengeance is a commendable next step with which the band demonstrate maturation alongside continued ambitious exploration.

As mentioned in the last paragraph, black metal represents but a subset of the album’s composition, and it is entirely absent on opening track “Cowardice”. Instead, the song washes over listeners with tender, melancholic, reverb-drenched guitars and the serene, tranquil vocals of I.V., the song’s alternative rock roots only evolving towards something metallic in the closing moments. Still, even when intense metal instrumentation is introduced, with a first flurry of blast beats and black metal tremolos arising early in following track “The Beaten Path Made Flesh”, the vocals remain resolutely clean, at most alternating melodic singing with slightly more forceful shouts.

This is one of the key strengths of Affection & Vengeance; many post-black and blackgaze bands feel obligated to employ harsh blackened shrieks even when the surrounding instrumentation is soaring and euphoric, so by staying true to the clean vocal vision, Ainsoph achieve a character with this album that feels relatively unique. What also helps with the uniqueness, however, is the level of variety across the album; after the gazey gentleness of “Cowardice”, “The Beaten Path Made Flesh” first ups the ante by bringing punky rhythms into the fold, before letting loose with the aforementioned extremity, with the evolution from the album’s opening seconds through to that moment being so well paced as to make such a dramatic evolution feel natural.

Ainsoph change tack on almost a song-to-song basis; “Zeal Like A Timeless Vacuum” is hazy, sedate and languid, drawing a lot from shoegaze instrumentally yet placing it within a dark, bleak tonal context. “Call To The Fire” is another cut that generally eschews metal, but instead it offers something of a blend of post-punk with post-rock, weaving post-rock tremolos within a rhythmic foundation inspired more by gothic rock/new wave drumming and clean guitar texture. At the opposing end of the tonal spectrum lies “Affection”, regularly employing blast beats and giving off a slightly sinister vibe; however, with the angelic layered vocals on display simultaneously, it captures a similar fusion of contrasts to what Myrkur accomplished at times on her debut album M.

Ainsoph win plenty of points for originality, diversity and execution on Affection & Vengeance; if I were to have any quibble with it, I do feel that the opening song “Cowardice” has a really compelling charm to it that isn’t really ever recaptured across the remainder of the record, which is a slight shame. However, there is clear value in what the band pursue instead across the rest of the tracklist, and the end result is truly admirable.