Greece, like all other major European nations is a haven of all types of metal genres and melodic death metal is no stranger. However, there aren’t that many such bands who stand out for me given that the Greek metal scene is big interest of mine, but that changed when I was sent the sophomore album by Attica based: Aetherian.
These blokes have only been on the road for a decade but I think the style, density, fusion and intellect of their work reflects how devoted they are to their art. “At Storm’s Edge” is not your run-of-the-mill melodeath piece as you’d expect from some random Scandinavian act, it fuses in some genres you might not expect from such a band.
“Army of Gaia” properly sets the album up as a catchy tale of the earliest mythologies of the band’s homeland, followed by some borderline symphonic pieces exploring many other epic mythos’s of the world before a light jazz melody on “Advent Dreams”.
What this tells us is how Aetherian are well versed in many genres and are versatile musicians who’ve made a mark that sets them aside from other melodeath acts at present. I’d recommend this album to anyone who has been curious of jazz-fusion acts or enjoys symphonic acts who retain the brutality of their more dissonant comrades.
Anyone who digs the harshness of bands like Kataklysm or Wolfheart might want to give this album a go, as Aetherian are marking Greece’s place on the melodeath map and showcasing how one of the more radio-friendly sub-genres of extreme metal has its share of experimentation and arrangement that rivals classical composition.
I expect to hear more from these guys in years to come given how lasting an impression this album has left.
(7/10 Demitri Levantis)
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