Aquilus is a one man band from Australia, comprising of Waldorf taking care of all instruments and vocals. Now this doesn’t sound like home produced drivel, but rather a black metal band with a full orchestra when heaviest or a single pianist at its most simple. All the songs are of impressive length and rather symphonic in arrangement.
The first quarter hour of the album is in the form of the opening track “Nihil”. This starts rather subdued to drop in the screamed vocals over guitars with overbearing keyboards and assaulted drums. This all settles down to keep a steady pace and level of aggression, only to rip the floor out from under you by going acoustic guitar and piano. Talk about a contrast. But it works, even if it can feel a little drawn out towards the end.
The melancholic beauty of “Loss” with its melodic choral vocal arrangement just before blasting into black metal roars of anguish and pain drive home all the emotions used in writing this piece.
“Smokefall” is full of heavy guitars and screams, along with mild wind instruments which work rather well when the lead washes over them accompanied by the roar of aggressive vocals but ending with soft caresses on the keys of a piano.
Very much in the realms of a score for a fantasy or period movie “In Lands of Ashes” builds slowly, adding layer upon layer of instruments until it drops them all as you think it’s about to crescendo, to build again in a manner befitting the viewing of a horrendous battle scene and then its aftermath.
Far more straight-forward with its grinding guitars, blasting drums and black metal rasped vocals, “Latent Thistle” is probably the most recognisably metal track on the album, but that doesn’t stop it from having plenty of additional atmospheric instruments giving it an almost medieval ending.
Not sure if “Arboreal Sleep” is meant to be about sleeping in a forest or trees sleeping. Either way it wouldn’t go amiss being listened to in the shade of the sleeping giants.
“The Fawn” sounds huge with Waldorf’s shouted rasps while being drowned out by the guitars and string section.
“Night Bell” tolls in at seventeen and a half minutes long and like the opening track swings from fast guitars and drums, to an almost standstill, only to churn out further guitar riffs which taper off into a piano piece accompanied by mournful strings.
So while this may not be a simple metal album or just atmospheric synths and keeping you gripped for the entire 80 minutes of its duration, it’s really great to just have playing as mood music because the metal sections are intense while the orchestral pieces just flow, taking you along for an epic aural journey.
(8/10 Marco Gaminara)
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