ASP is a Gothic Novel Rock band from Germany.
Current Members:
- Alexander "Asp" Frank Spreng – Vocals, Programming
- Lutz Demmler - Guitars, Keyboard, E-Bass, Mandolin
- Sören Jordan - Lead Guitar
- Andreas "Tossi" Gross - E-Bass
- Stefan Günther-Martens - Drums
Former Members:
- Matthias "Matze" Ambre - Guitar
- Oliver "Himmi" Himmighoffen - Drums
Studio Albums:
- Hast du mich vermisst? (Der schwarze Schmetterling I) (2000)
- :Duett (Der schwarze Schmetterling II) (2001)
- Weltunter (Der schwarze Schmetterling III) (2003)
- Aus der Tiefe (Der schwarze Schmetterling IV) (2005)
- Requiembryo (Der schwarze Schmetterling V) (2007)
- Zaubererbruder: Der Krabat-Liederzyklus (2008)
- Fremd (Fremder-Zyklus 1) (2011)
- Maskenhaft (Fremder-Zyklus 2) (2013)
- Verfallen Folge 1: Astoria (2015)
- Verfallen Folge 2: Fassaden (2016)
- GeistErfahrer (2016)
- zutiefst (2017)
Provides Examples of:
- Album Intro Track: Almost every album has one. Requiembryo and Zaubererbruder even have an Album Outro Track.
- Album Title Drop: Due to the many cross references between the songs it doesn't even have to be the same album. „Die Kleine Ballade Vom Schwarzen Schmetterling“ from their second album for example features several repetitions of the line “Hast du mich vermisst?“
- Alone in a Crowd:The narrator of "Biotopia" feels alone among other people, unable to truly connect with others.
- Audience Participation Song: Plenty, most notably
- At concerts, the „Eeeooh“ chant from live performances of „Ich will brennen“ is the default way of demanding an encore.
- „Rücken an Rücken“ is traditionally performed back to back with the audience.
- Book Ends: Requiembryo begins and ends with "Offährte".
- Break-Up Song: "Und wir tanzten", „Rücken an Rücken“ among others.
- Butterfly of Death and Rebirth
- Concept Album: To some extent, they all are. More precisely, Zaubererbruder retells the Sorbian saga of Krabat. The two Verfallen albums revolve around a young veteran getting lured into and possessed by the fabled Hotel Astoria in Leipzig, Germany
- Dark Is Not Evil: A recurring theme.
- Destructive Romance: "Demon Love."
- Digital Piracy Is Evil: They often encourage their fans to actually buy the music and not share it online. Justified, since despite growing success ASP is still an indie band that has to pay its bills.
- Disposable Sex Worker: In "Loreley", the eponymous erotic dancer becomes Paul's first victim.
- Do Not Call Me "Paul": Do not call Asp Alexander.
- Downer Ending: The music video for "Me" ends with Asp's Author Avatar finding out that his girlfriend is dead when a monster drags her body to the abyss. After Asp crosses the Despair Event Horizon upon this discovery, the butterfly he gave her early in the video turns him into the very monster who killed her.
- Fading into the Next Song
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: Pay a closer look at the music video for „Me“, and you'll spot the protagonist briefly morphing into the monster that abducted his love interest.
- Harsh Vocals: Occasionally. Guitarist Lutz also can pull off some impressive grunts live.
- I Just Want to Have Friends: The narrator of "Biotopia" feels alone and waits for someone with whom he can bond.
- Jekyll & Hyde: The Black Butterfly.
- Lyrical Cold Open; Occurs a lot:
- "So viel mehr."
- In Weltunter: "Stille der Nacht", "Demon Love" and "Hässlich"
- In Requiembryo: "Requiem"
- In fremd: "Rücken an Rücken"
- Madness Mantra: "Coming Home" has nigh unto endless repetitions of "The tile the tile the tile the tiles the tiles."
- Myth Arc:
- Der schwarze Schmetterling
- Fremder-Zyklus
- Non-Appearing Title: Happens occasionally, not counting the purely instrumental songs:
- In Duett:„Kokon“ and „Die Kleine Ballade vom Schwarzen Schmetterling“
- In Weltunter: Lykantropie, unless you count the live intro.
- In Aus der Tiefe: „Werben“
- In Requiembryo: „De Profundis“ and „Duett“
- In Zaubererbruder: "Fluchtversuch"
- Obligatory Bondage Song: "Teach Me War."
- Recycled Lyrics: With all the cross references, this happens a lot. "Wechselbalg" for example uses lines from "So viel mehr".
- Religion Rant Song: "Ich bin ein wahrer Satan."
- Resist the Beast: "Lykantropie" is about this.
- Self-Backing Vocalist: On the records, Asp sings all the backing vocals himself.
- Self-Empowerment Anthem: "Ich will brennen".
- Special Edition: Typical for Trisol, their record label. Expect every CD to come out in at least half a dozen fancy digipack vinyl bookcase whatever editions.
- Unplugged Version: Their popular acoustic versions got outsourced into their own project, „Asps von Zaubererbrüdern'', which is currently on hiatus.
