You may not recognize her name if you don’t follow her solo work, but Leila Abdul-Rauf is an experienced metal musician. As vocalist and guitarist in the death metal band Vastum , and an almost frequent collaborator with other extreme and unconventional artists like Dream Unending , she’s something of a veteran at 20 Buck Spin. Yet only now, with Andros Insidium , does she release her namesake solo project on this label, and the change is more than symbolic. While she stays within the realms of experimental dark atmosphere —and keeps her signature trumpet— the music has taken a decidedly heavier turn as Leila turns up the oppressive hum, shapes the orchestral elements into dissonant, strange patterns and incorporates fierce, harsh vocals. And if the cover isn’t indicative enough, she seems to have something to say.
Andros Insidium is a kind of ritual, but allegorical. Leila uses the goddess Ishtar, and specifically her legendary descent into the underworld and her ascent from it, as a means to explore the feminine nature more broadly. Mythology and ritual serve as the framework to “exorcise” the demons of patriarchy and the feminine rage that enrages them. The anger peaks in the agonizing “Andros Insidium”, where Leila condemns “you” (man) in a chorus of haunting half-sung chants, whispers and growls for continuous attack and torment of “her” (woman). Though superficially dissimilar, it strongly recalls a Lingua Ignota of the Caligula era with its minimalist piano and cold narration that turns into screams. This is the first appearance of those gurgling, howling vocals on the record, and one of only two tracks that include them, the other being closer to “Return to Anu”. The time preceding this release is full of tension, with the atmosphere flooding the soundscape without respite, as otherworldly pieces and unsettling cleans run through it under the rhythm of ominous drums and tambourine – somewhat like an alternate-universe Swans , though at times it randomly recalls Haunted Plasma (“Stripped Before the Eye of Death,” “Return to Anu”).
Andros Insidium aims to make its listener uncomfortable and it undeniably succeeds. Almost every element, from the ritual drum patterns, the strange melodies from synthesizers, trumpet and strings, and the ever-present thousand-ton hum, unsettles you. The sound of the steel drums that open the album and return only on the final track immediately unsettles the listener. But it’s Leila‘s varied dramatic, ruinous and cold -often multi-channel- vocals (“Stripped Before the Eye of Death,” “Fractured Body”) -and the lyrics they deliver- that push those feelings of unease to full force. As a helpless witness (“Stripped…,” “A Requiem…”), prophetess (“Fractured Body,” “Return to Anu”) or divine judge (“Andros Insidium”), her accented tones give the sense of a haunted narrator. And the very dissonance of the vocal lines seems to emphasize their unshakably dark lyrical content more than more traditionally sorrowful melodies could. The sparse use of harsh vocals enhances their ferocity, and their final appearance comes in a passage that mimics their first —with the same piano tritones and the same drum rhythm— reinforcing their significance both emotionally and musically. Overall, it can be a viscerally disturbing experience.
However, Andros Insidium also has some groovy, even beautiful moments. “Eros Anima” centers on a strangely catchy rhythm with a menagerie of percussion, trumpet and guitar, while “A Requiem for Ishtar” sees weeping strings accompany angelic sopranos in a truly sorrowful lament, and the opener “Descent into Kur” consists mainly of harmonic, though ominous, synthesizer melodies. Within the whole, however, such instances are barely less unsettling than the dissonance and merely highlight those harsher, uglier moments. One could argue they make the music harder to listen to than if they were entirely absent and the whole piece was dark and confrontational. Nothing here seems truly random or superfluous, especially when one treats it like the story it is and listens actively. But without devoting all your attention, some of the more internal aspects tend to throw you off awkwardly – the trumpets that announce and the didgeridoo-like male drones on “Senex Rule”, for example, or the unfolding of “Andros Insidium”.
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As with much avant-garde music, your ability to follow the journey of Andros Insidium will depend on your tolerance for strangeness and your willingness to feel uncomfortable. Performing her ritual of catharsis, Leila Abdul-Rauf indulges no emotion but her own — perhaps something that happens with extreme metal, but in this medium, the risk of alienation could be higher. Nevertheless, this is an impressive work that deserves at least an open-minded exploration.
Rating: Good
Label: 20 Buck Spin Websites: Bandcamp | Releases Facebook worldwide: April 17, 2026
