Hailing from the home of the ‘Manx Missile’ Mark Cavendish (that’s for all you cycling fans out there, of which I am sure there are many reading this review), Isle of Mann’s Aeon, follow up their 2019 album ‘A Tragic End’ with this, their new album ‘Consequences. Peddling what a lazy ass reviewer would easily tag as ‘progressive/technical metal’, it’s a genre that can, on a bad day, strike fear into the heart of even the hardiest of metal fan and there is a myriad of reasons for such a bold and grandiose statement. I, for one, have never really understood the term technical metal. Metal by its very nature (in most guises) surely requires a degree of competence and technical ability so it seems somewhat of a moot moniker with which to describe a certain type of music? Look, I am being somewhat of pedant here and of course, I do recognise that there has been for some time, a scene for bands that seem to revel in composing songs of such complexity and technical prowess since the mid to late 80’s with Death’s later work, Cynic and so on, to bands such as Meshuaggh, Periphery, Animals as Leaders etc al. who seem to up the ante with each passing album, to out flam, paradiddle, riff and arpeggio each other to death, with time signatures that defy logic replete with hugely complex arrangements.

I for one have no problem with this, at all. In fact, as a former musician, I do marvel (certainly at the drumming) at some of the playing, which seems to be from another planet. Other, less likeminded individuals will simply tut and sarcastically clap, ‘Yes well done you bloody show off. Now fuck off’. And I get that. The genre can be a little inward looking with a propensity for self-congratulation. Technical ability is often self-serving and not in service to the song and whilst the component parts may be sublimely played and very, very clever, when you put it all together, it has a cold, detached feeling to it and that is often the road that these bands seem to travel. It’s the adage that just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. If this all sounds like a prelude to a less than favourable review, then let me stop you right there. ‘Consequences’ is a decent album and certainly improves on their first album in terms of song writing and production.

It does what this genre seems to do, which is cram so many ideas into each of the songs that it starts to spill out of the sides like an overpacked metaphorical musical sandwich. There’s salad cream on the carpet and some of the Branston Pickle has lodged itself on the TV remote. Again, I don’t think this is a bad thing. Aeon have a plethora of ideas and the requisite technical nuance to negate the songs from stagnating in their own soup of self-importance. Album highlight ‘Rubicon’ veers from clean vocals and delicate guitars creating space and lush soundscapes, before segueing into crunchy, towering riffs, that syncopate with the double bass drums to create a percussive, driving, and brutal accoutrement to the more delicate passages that proceeded it. I dare you not to be nodding your head by songs end. The outro to this song has an almost early Korn feel to it, all grumbling bass, growls and down tuned riffs. It’s a real thing of real beauty. ‘Bloodstains’ follows a similar narrative path, soft, loud, soft, loud, clean and barked vocals end up in an uplifting middle eight, with lush vocal melodies, which for me, seals the deal.

If this review seems slightly disjointed and bi-polar, it’s because as I have been writing this review with the album on constant rotation for the last few hours, my mind has been seesawing back and forth between two schools of thought. One side of my brain is one hundred percent sure I have heard most of these riffs before, and the dynamics of the songs follow a similar trajectory to other protagonists in this genre and as such, is there anything here that’s new, exciting, or original? Thankfully, the other (better and less scrambled) side of brain recognises, that Aeon, whilst not exactly re-inventing the wheel, have enough originality and song writing skills to go with their obvious technical abilities to make this an album that really resonates. In part, this is due to the fact that if you take out the shouty, chuggy, double bass syncopated Fear Factory/Slipknot platitudes, it’s the quieter, more passive moments, that have a post rock quietness to them, which aligns them with this genre of music’s (IMO) godfathers, Between The Buried And Me. There’s an exuberance and delicateness to the quieter middle-eights and bridges, a deftness of touch that give you a true line of sight as to the where the true goodness of Aeons lie.  At the fulcrum of the very best moments on this album lies vocalist Skippy Hilton and the co-vocals of guitarists Si Harvey and Scott Sayer. Whilst the barked, growling is somewhat boiler plate, it’s in the more subtle, quieter, and expansive moments on this album where the vocals really sing (no pun intended). I like heavy, don’t get me wrong, but Aeon have resisted the temptation to go with the flow and follow the genre guidebook to the letter and consequently have created an album of real depth, beauty, and heart. Based on the ideas featured here on this album, I can only think that Aeons will go on to bigger, brighter, and better things.

(7.5/10 Nick Griffiths)

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