Style: Epic blackened death metal
Primary Emotions/Themes: The last truly great Aeternus album
Thoughts: Aeternus' early works are some of my favorite metal ever created. Starting with Dark Sorcery and moving through Shadows of Old the band was completely unique and utterly unstoppable. Until now, the only way to get Shadows of Old on vinyl was the original pressing back in 1999. While I considered getting it plenty of times it's a picture disc from the 90's... those don't have a great reputation for sounding good, and I already had a decent sounding CD copy so I waited for a proper pressing.
That time finally came. After twenty something years Soulseller Records finally put out an actual pressing of the third Aeternus album, what a day to be a metal head. We truly live in a golden age right now.
Shadows of Old sees the band starting to shift. They are moving beyond the epic black metal that they so expertly crafted from their very beginnings. They are starting to add in some death metal to the sound at this point, but it's not overt nor is it distracting... but it is a sign of things to come.
The overwhelming majority of Shadows of Old continues the legacy that ...And So The Night Became started. These songs are involved, complex and most of all incredibly epic. The atmosphere here is massive and crushing all at once. Ares' voice is huge and fits with the music perfectly.
Each of the songs twist and turn much like they are telling a story musically as much as they are through the lyrics. Different riffs give different moods and atmospheres. Anything from massive blasting sections to points where the band pulls back so only a clean guitar can play, only to return to metal with a wall of sound riff so massive that the tectonic plates are impressed.
Shadows of Old is probably my least favorite Aeternus album from the early works... but that's like saying that I don't like chocolate ice cream as much as I do cookie dough ice cream. They are both amazing and would eat either on site, I just prefer cookie dough if given the choice. The same thing here, Shadows of Old is still an album that is going to be spun a lot, just not as much as Dark Rage, Beyond the Wandering Moon, or especially ...And So the Night Became.
Still, essential listening.
No comments:
Post a Comment