Asmodeus X is an American

electro-industrial Electro-industrial is a music genre that emerged from industrial music in the early 1980s. While EBM (electronic body music) has a minimal structure and clean production, electro-industrial tends to have a grittier, complex and layered sound wi ...

band whose music is frequently characterized as a mixture of EBM and

darkwave Dark wave (also typeset as darkwave) is a music genre that emerged from the new wave and post-punk movement of the late 1970s. Dark wave compositions are largely based on minor key tonality and introspective lyrics and have been perceived as be ...

and typically includes the use of environmental sampling.Dj Cybergoth
''Asmodeus X Mourningstar (Electrogeneration album of the month January 2005)''.
''Electrogeneration'' (Belgium), December 24, 2004. Their style is said to be influenced by the music of Laibach,

Kraftwerk Kraftwerk (, "power station") is a German band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk were among the first successful acts to popularize the ...

Death in June Death in June are a neofolk group led by English musician Douglas P. (Douglas Pearce). The band was originally formed in the United Kingdom in 1981 as a trio, but after the other members left in 1984 and 1985 to work on other projects, the gro ...

, and

Front 242 Front 242 is a Belgian electronic music group that came into prominence during the 1980s. Pioneering the style they called electronic body music, they are a profound influence on the electronic and industrial music genres. History Formation Fr ...

, among others.HD
''Asmodeus X''.
''Funprox Webzine'', February 21, 2003. The vocals have been described as following in the EBM/synthpop tradition of being “somewhat flat”, lending a “darker edge” to the music. The band is promoted as “the original and ex officio 'Black Corps' of the industrial underground”.

History

Morphine Angel

Asmodeus X was founded by Paul Fredric and Brad Marshal in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

in 1999. Fredric (Paul McAtee) and Marshal were originally members of a

Goth band Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie an ...

called, “Morphine Angel”, formed in Lincoln,

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

in 1993, and later based in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. During this time, part of Fredric's musical training came from work with

Thomas Thorn Thomas Torquemada Thorn (born ''Thomas A. Lockyear, II''; 2 August 1964) is an American musician. Born in Madison, Wisconsin, he is best known as co-founder of, and lead vocalist for, the industrial metal band The Electric Hellfire Club. Durin ...

, lead vocalist for the

industrial metal Industrial metal is the fusion of heavy metal and industrial music, typically employing repeating metal guitar riffs, sampling, synthesizer or sequencer lines, and distorted vocals. Prominent industrial metal acts include Ministry, Nine In ...

band

Electric Hellfire Club The Electric Hellfire Club was an American industrial rock band mixing elements of glam metal, techno, gothic rock, and psychedelia. The band's lyrics contain tongue-in-cheek references to sin, violence, sex, devil worship and similar themes. T ...

, contributing vocals for EHC's song "Pack 44".''Morphine Angel''.
''Encyclopedia of Lincoln Bands''. Star City Scene. Retrieved February 21, 2011. Recording on the St. Thomas, Black Pepper and Delinquent Records labels, Morphine Angel developed a significant following. Their song "Age of Man" was included in the soundtrack to the independent film, ''Shut Eye'', alongside other popular goth-oriented electro bands such as

In Strict Confidence In Strict Confidence is a German electro-industrial band. Formed in 1989, they were known as ''Seal of Secrecy'' until 1992. In Strict Confidence has been signed to several record labels, including Metropolis Records and WTII Records. History ...

. However, the band fell apart as members relocated to different cities; Fredric and Marshal leaving in March 1999. Later that year, the two formed Asmodeus X.Sande Chen
''Goth Via Space City: Let other goth acts infest other cities; Asmodeus X is perfectly happy here''.
''Houston Press'', December 23, 1999.

Asmodeus X

Asmodeus X’s first release, ''The Cult of the Nassarene'', was released the year prior to their live debut at the Houston club Instant Karma on February 26, 2000. The band grew with the addition of guitarist Frank G. Lesikar and their performances earned the ''2000 Critic's choice for Best Industrial/Noise Band'' from the '' Houston Press''. This was followed by the release of two singles with St. Thomas Records, one being a cover of the

Fever Tree ''Vachellia xanthophloea'' is a tree in the family Fabaceae, commonly known in English as the fever tree. This species of ''Vachellia'' is native to eastern and southern Africa (Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Somalia, South Africa, Eswat ...

hit, "San Francisco Girls". Their first studio album, ''Nova Futura'', was produced in 2001 by Victor Peraino, former keyboardist of

Kingdom Come " Kingdom come" is a phrase in the Lord's Prayer in the Bible. Kingdom Come may also refer to: Film * ''Kingdom Come'' (1919 film), a Western short featuring Hoot Gibson * ''Kingdom Come'' (2001 film), a comedy starring LL Cool J * ''Kingdom ...

, and included the song, "The Tiger", featuring guest drummer Dennis “Machine Gun” Thompson, formerly of

MC5 MC5, also commonly called The MC5, is an American rock band formed in Lincoln Park, Michigan, in 1963. The original line-up consisted of Rob Tyner (vocals) Wayne Kramer (guitar), Fred "Sonic" Smith (guitar), Michael Davis (bass), and Dennis ...

as guest drummer. The album also contained re-recorded tracks of their singles. However, differences between the studio and St. Thomas prevented the album’s release. The first studio album that was released was 2002's ''Wolf Age'', put out under the Black Pepper Records label. The album showed off a key element that defines the band's sound—rich programming with extensive use of environmental sound samples and “darkened neo-classical noise-scapes”.Joshua Heinrich, Jeremy Eckhar
''Asmodeus X- Morningstar''.
''Grave Concerns E-zine'', February 17, 2005. The lyrics of the band's music are generally described as thoughtful or intellectual; meditations on “the darkest realms of the animal mind and the human condition” with "

Goetic ''The Lesser Key of Solomon'', also known as ''Lemegeton Clavicula Salomonis'' or simply ''Lemegeton'', is an anonymous grimoire on demonology. It was compiled in the mid-17th century, mostly from materials a couple of centuries older.''Lemegeto ...

Objectivist Objectivism is a philosophical system developed by Russian-American writer and philosopher Ayn Rand. She described it as "the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement ...

and

left-hand path In Western esotericism the left-hand path and right-hand path are the dichotomy between two opposing approaches to magic. This terminology is used in various groups involved in the occult and ceremonial magic. In some definitions, the Left-Han ...

elements". A further example of this is seen in their choice to remix a

sound recording Sound recording and reproduction is the electrical, mechanical, electronic, or digital inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording te ...

, ''Underground Tunnels'' by a proponent of the left-hand path, . Later, Fredric provided philosophical contexts for their two subsequent albums in a self-published 2009 book, ''The Erbeth Transmissions''. Soon after ''Wolf Age'', Lesikar died. His guitar wasn't replaced. Instead, Asmodeus X brought in Joel Schafer (Joel 313) to fill in on

electronic percussion Electronic drums is a modern electronic musical instrument, primarily designed to serve as an alternative to an acoustic drum kit. Electronic drums consist of an electronic sound module which produces the synthesized or sampled percussion sound ...

in 2003. They had previously worked together at a concert at the Satellite Lounge in Houston prior to the production of ''Nova Futura'', then playing on acoustic

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...

s. The band signed with Latex Records for their third album, ''Morningstar'' in 2004. It was picked for album of the month for January 2005 by Electrogeneration. This album also yielded their most popular downloaded song to date, a cover of the Psychic TV hit, "

Roman P "Roman P" is a song by Psychic TV about director Roman Polanski. "Roman P." was first performed in nascent form during Psychic TV's 1983 gigs. This early version can be found on the live albums '' N.Y. Scum'' and '' Those Who Do Not''. Of the ...

". This was followed two years later by ''Sanctuary'', which in addition to new tracks, also revisited past songs. It featured guest stints by the

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

band Typhon Vortex on "Microcosm" and former Morphine Angel guitarist Deros Mezmeronicus (Carl Gibson) on "On a Spaceship with Beelzebub", as well as posthumously reworking guitarwork of Lesikar. With Next-Gen Records in 2008, they released the two-disc style collection '' The Greater Key'' – primarily a compilation of remixes of music from the band’s prior two albums by prominent genre DJs and groups, such as Australian band Masquerade,

Weltklang Weltklang is a German electronic music project that was formed in 1980. Current members are Thomas Voburka and René Steuns. Background Weltklang was formed in the East-German town of Schwerin, German Democratic Republic in 1980. The masterm ...

, The Evolutionaries (who contributed to the

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation ...

Dead Rising soundtrack) and members of Written in Ashes, Provision and Bozo Porno Circus. The following year, the band produced two new singles and won ''Best Album'' for ''Sanctuary'', ''Best E.P.'' for the untitled promotional version of '' The Greater Key'', and ''Live Performance'' at the Revolutions Music Awards. This year also marked Joel 313 leaving the band to re-form Provision. Currently, Kirk Graham of the

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

-based synthpop band Phase Theory fills in on live performances of Asmodeus X. The band experimented with adding other members to the band, like journeyman Chris Vasquez (Skeleton Dick) on keyboards. Vasquez appears on the band's music videos for ''On a Spaceship with Beelzebub'' and ''Theos'' and remixed two songs for ''The Greater Key''. With Marshall leaving the band in 2014, Joel 313 and Vasquez returned, respectively splitting time with other projects, Post Faction and Skeleton Dick. The band later released the albums ''The Bright Ones'' and ''Dark Ides of Summer''. The title track for the former album was previously well-received in its inclusion in the compilation ''Negative Impact V0.3'' from PfF Productions. 2020 saw the release of the EP ''Black Fire'', a mostly acoustic offering reflecting their neo-folk roots.

Asmodeus X side projects

In 2004, Asmodeus X played the role of the Tommy Gnosis band in a Houston stage production of '' Hedwig and the Angry Inch'', performing "Wicked Little Town (Reprise)" with a lead vocalist from

The Black Math Experiment The Black Math Experiment is a band described as a unique blend of 1980s synthpop and new wave music with similarities to "The B-52's crossed with Berlin, The Dead Milkmen, and Talking Heads." Based in Houston, Texas in 2004, the band is known fo ...

, Jef With One F.Jef With One F
''Aftermath: Asmodeus X at Numbers''.
''Houston Press'', October 27, 2008. Later in 2006, they went on to remix a Black Math song, "Ruler of the Rock Robots (A Love Story)", which was retitled, "Ruler of the Trance Robots". Fredric has stepped away from the band occasionally to fill in on electronic percussion for the

synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s a ...

band

Red Flag Red flag may refer to: * Red flag (idiom), a metaphor for something signalling a problem ** Red flag warning, a term used by meteorologists ** Red flag (battle ensign), maritime flag signaling an intention to give battle with no quarter (fight to ...

and splits his time as a founding member (Mixmaster Fritzi) of Phase Theory, working in production and playing synthesizer and electronic percussion. In 2006, he teamed with author and singer Alice Karlsdóttir and guest artists like Ian Read of the

dark folk Neofolk, also known as apocalyptic folk, is a form of experimental music blending elements of folk and industrial music, which emerged in punk rock circles in the 1980s. Neofolk may either be solely acoustic or combine acoustic folk instrumenta ...

band

Fire + Ice ''Fire Ice'' is the third book in the NUMA Files series of books co-written by best-selling author Clive Cussler and Paul Kemprecos, and was published in 2002. The main character of this series is Kurt Austin. Plot In this novel, a Russian bu ...

on a neo-folk project called Verdandi. He also founded Sakaki 4, which released an album in 2009. Fredric further recorded with TG Mondalf a ''Subgenius'' “rant” aired on Hour of Slack #993 by Rev. Ivan Stang, founder of the

Church of the Subgenius The Church of the SubGenius is a parody religion that satirizes better-known belief systems. It teaches a complex philosophy that focuses on J. R. "Bob" Dobbs, purportedly a salesman from the 1950s, who is revered as a prophet by the Church. SubG ...

. Fredric also worked with Craig Ellenwood of Psychic TV on a 2011 music video, ''Fire Idol vs Asmodeus X -Coconut Disco (Asmodeian mix)''.

Other band members

Other musicians who played with the band onstage include Reverend TiG (keyboards) from Bozo Porno Circus and Bamboo Crisis and Allison Scott (acoustic drums and keyboards) (Opulent).

Members

Current

*Paul Fredric –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

, programming,

theremin The theremin (; originally known as the ætherphone/etherphone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox) is an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer (who is known as a thereminist). It is named afte ...

(1999–present) *Joel 313 (Joel Schafer) –

(2003–2009; 2014–present) *Chris Vasquez –

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

(2014–present)

Former

*Brad Marshal –

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

s (1999-2014) *Frank G. Lesikar (Frank Faust / Gary Lesikar) –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

s (1999–2002)

In popular culture

''Darker Shores'' from the ''Sanctuary'' album and Morphine Angel’s ''Breakfast with Cthulhu'' were reviewed in their relationship to the writings of H.P. Lovecraft in ''The Strange Sound of Cthulhu: Music Inspired by the Writings of H.P. Lovecraft'', a 2006 book by Gary Hill of ''Music Street Journal''.''The Strange Sound of Cthulhu'' book release announcement.
''Music Street Journal'', August 20, 2006.

Discography

Full-length albums

* ''Nova Futura'', 2001 – St. Thomas Records * ''Wolf Age'', 2002 - Black Pepper Records (Houston) * ''Morningstar'', 2004 – Latex Records; CD includes music video for ''Voices Of The Fallen'' * ''Sanctuary'', 2006 – Kreislauf Records * '' The Greater Key'' (Compilation), 2008 – Next-Gen Records * ''The Bright Ones'', 2011 – Kreislauf Records * ''Dark Ides of Summer'', 2018 – Latex Records

EPs

* ''The Cult of the Nassarene'', 1999, limited release * (untitled), 2003, promotional release for ''Wolf Age'' * (untitled), 2008, promotional release for ''The Greater Key'' – Next-Gen Records * ''Black Fire'', 2020

Singles

* "San Francisco Girls"/"Holy Fire", 2000 – St. Thomas Records * "The Cow"/"Beyond the Water", 2000 – St. Thomas Records * "God's Creation (Asmodeus X Remix)" (Remix of In erfektionsong), 2006 * "Own Little World (Asmodeus X Mix)" (Remix of Celldweller song), 2007 * "Underground Tunnels (Asmodeus X remix)", 2008 (as music video) * "Theos", 2009 (as music video) * "Watch Out (Asmodeus X Remix)" (Remix of Ex-VoTo song), 2009 – Poor Alice Music * "Power Factory", 2009 * "Catatonic Refugee", 2009

Compilation appearances

*"Krishna (Weird Blue Light Mix)", Track #2, ''Primal River Valley – The Past By Way Of The Future'', (various artists), 2005 – Latex Records *"Ideal – Asmodeus X Remix", Track #10, ''Ideal Warfare'', Provision, 2006 – Section 44 Records *"Ruler of the Trance Robots (A Remix)", Track #14, ''Last Transmission From The Blue Room'', The Black Math Experiment, 2007 *"Resurrection (Remixed by Asmodeus X)", Track #2, ''Resurrection EP'', Warforge, 2007 – Xenobiotic Records *"The Bright Ones", Track #11, ''Negative Impact Vol. 3'', (various artists), 2008 – PfF Productions *"Always the Same featuring Asmodeus X", Track #1-6, ''The Grey Years'', 2008 – Bleiburg *"Find Another Way", Track #1-3, (various artists), ''Free Tibet Free'', 2008 – Dark Transmission (Germany) *"Power Factory (Alle Lassen Mix)", Track #8, ''Negative Impact Vol. 4'', 2011 – PfF Productions *"Something I Missed (feat. SPIKE the Percussionist)", Track #10, (various artists), ''New Mind Emergence (Artificial Intelligence)'', 2016 – Latex Records

Remixes and covers of Asmodeus X

*"Crucified Serpent (Valhalla Mix)", Endymion, Track #2-4, ''Hunter's Moon'', (various artists), 2006 Stark (Damon Law), Written in Ashes – Dark Horizons *"Wolf In The Sky", Fremdheit (Germany), Track #5, ''North Country'', Verdandi, 2006 *"Typhoon", Led Manville (Spain), Track #2-11, ''God Plays Dice'', DJ Led Manville, 2007 *"Morningstar (Flaschback Mix)", Track #2-9, ''hEADaCHE re:mixes V2: Highly Dangerous Defects'', hEADaCHE, 2006 –

Underground Inc. Underground, Inc. was a Chicago-based subsidiary of Invisible Records, consisting of a collective of independent labels, producing various studio albums by Invisible Records artists, side projects and compilations with the same focus on being art ...

Music videos

*''Wolf in the Sky'', 2003 – director David J *''Voices of the Fallen'', 2004 – director Amy Coster *''MuZ'', 2006 – director Xeghys *''Glass Towers'', 2006 – director Paul Fredric *''Wewelsburg 2 (Driving to Wewelsburg)'', 2007 – director Paul Fredric *''Astaroth'', 2008 – director Paul Fredric *''Theos'', 2009 – director Paul Fredric *''On a Spaceship with Beelzebub'', 2009 – director Paul Fredric *''Fifth Planet'', 2011 – director Chris Camacho *''The Bright Ones'', 2012 – director Paul Fredric

Notes and references

External links

* * * * {{Authority control 1999 establishments in Texas American electro-industrial music groups American industrial music groups Electronic music groups from Texas Musical groups established in 1999 Musical groups from Houston Underground, Inc. artists