Aesma Daeva was birthed in 1996, fathered by John Prassas. He had become extremely bored with what mainstream music had to offer. The typical combination of bass, guitar, drums and vocals used by most bands was becoming very formulaic and predictable, and John's musical taste gravitated towards the abstract. He became particularly interested in industrial groups who used electronics in unconventional manners such as Skinny Puppy, and these groups inspired John to create a metamorphed form of music. His emphasis was to be focused on synthesis.
The project evolved to the next level when John met N. Copernicus, and the two quickly realized a mutual interest in electronic music. They began to experiment with synthesizers, tape machines, scanners, effects racks and synths wired in odd configurations to see how far the envelope could be pushed, much like today’s composers of 21st century music.
Soon after, N. Copernicus offered to help produce and record 2 songs. The first track "Darkness" wound up as the first track on the COP International compilation Diva X Machina 2. This release, along with the newly recorded track "Stay," caught the attention of Accession records in Germany, who released their first full length album "Here Lies One Whose Name Was Written In Water" with Rebecca Cords as the vocalist.
In October of 1999, John started writing new material for the second album. Keeping with the tradition of musical evolution, the concept of the album was faster guitar playing, longer pieces which broke from the traditional song form, and broader instrumentation, including not only synthesizer, tape, guitars, and operatic female vocals, but also violin, trumpet, flute, french horn, prepared piano, and crystal glasses. A truly unconventional album, "The Eros of Frigid Beauty" has certainly found a devoted following in the musical underground.
Due to demand for this music to come alive from the studio of which it had only resided, a group capable of bringing this music to the stage was needed. Starting in January 2002, John asked Earl Root to play guitar alongside him, Craig Ohren to offer drum expertise and Melissa Ferlaak to continue the vocals on stage. In June 2002, Aesma Daeva debuted at a small club in St. Paul, and a week later, played the 2002 Milwaukee Metalfest to much avail. Aesma Daeva caught the attention of such mainstream metal magazines as Unrestrained!, Terrorizer and Metal Maniacs and was deemed "One of the Highlights of Metalfest 2002!" In August, the band traveled down to Mexico City to play at the acclaimed Festival Obscuro IV presented by Dilemma entertainment alongside Maldorar, Tristania and HIM. Mexico proved to be a crowning highlight for Aesma Daeva.
John is now in the final stages of mixing and producing the bands 3rd album to be entitled "The New Athens Ethos." A constitution to what Aesma Daeva, and its followers are.
This album should be available by March 2003 so look for it then or order it through our website.
To everyone who has been supportive of Aesma Daeva, they offer their most sincere gratitude and blessings. Keep in touch…
