The latest release in Metal Blade’s 30th anniversary catalogue is the fourth album from Swedish death metallers, Aeon. I recall picking up their second record, ‘Rise to Dominate’, when it came out and quite enjoying their brand of Satanic death. With similarities to bands like Deicide and Morbid Angel, it did the job without providing any striking divergence from the norms of the genre. In a sense, though better, I would compare them to a band like Vile who did likewise with their first couple of efforts. After catching Aeon live three years back though, I must admit that my level of respect for them did rise exponentially as their relentless, infernal death metal tore my face off. Missing out on album number three, I was therefore more than curious about ‘Aeon’s Black’.
‘Still they Pray’ chugs into existence with a sound rather reminiscent of Deicide’s splendid ‘Serpents of the Light’ album. From vocals to tight delivery to quality production, it’s all there – particularly when the blasting begins and layered vocals rear up amidst the blasphemous rage. Where the Floridian horde and Aeon fundamentally differ is in the latter’s approach entailing a lot more emphasis on the mid-pace a la Morbid Angel. ‘The Glowing Hate’, as one example, has more than its fair share of similarities to the ‘Domination’ era in this respect, with molten riffing and assured enunciation. Beyond the brief piano interlude, ‘The Voice of the Accuser’, the band’s other core influence, Corpsegrinder era Cannibal Corpse, can be clearly identified. Although boasting some snazzy fretwork, a concerted numbskull-pounding-attack takes centre stage, during which the downside to intelligible death metal barks is exposed i.e. generic lyrical fodder. In this case, Tommy Dahlström raging about “your pathetic little god, Jesus Christ” doesn’t prove quite as cutting as intended. I can certainly see where the appeal is for younger fans, but for god’s sake…
Arguably the best aspect of Aeon is the guitar work. By the time of ‘Garden of Sin’, those Morbid Angel stylings are back as the track breaks down into a sublime ‘Where the Slime Lives’ type of morass; solo and all. On the other hand, it is clear by this comparatively early stage (track five) that when all else fails, the band does resort to pinch harmonics to add some colour – an aspect which becomes gradually more obtrusive. One final notable mention before moving on from ‘Garden o fSin’ is the lyric: “Spread your legs and invite me in!” which could very well be a winning line to try out down the pub. Speaking of haddock pasties¹, ‘Neptune the Mystic’ ascends from the depths to kick up another hefty instrumental stink right afterwards. Aeon show their aspirational side through such moments (of which there are four in all), and in some cases it really does come as a welcome relief amongst the stream of chugging diatribes. The further the album goes, the more the Cannibal Corpse parallels expand; from the title track and ‘Dead Means Dead’ right through to the closing ‘Die By My Hands’, Mazurkiewicz fashioned drumming, stop-start heavy riffs and feral barks reign.
Not to be unfair on Aeon, but their fourth effort generally resembles a blasphemous counterpart to what Cannibal Corpse does with gore. My biggest criticism of the band is not, in fact, who they sound like but rather their willingness to commit all their ideas to the end product. Although it’s difficult to point out particular tracks as being filler, there’s just too many for what ‘Aeon’s Black’ is. It’s a real shame considering that when they are on the money, Aeon are very good indeed – and to my mind, a preferable listen to the latest efforts from those previously mentioned genre giants. Cut fifteen tracks down to ten or twelve, and then you would have an album to match the talent surrounding it.
(7/10 Jamie Wilson)
¹Mellie, Roger, Roger’s Profanisaurus, p ?, 2002
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