Accomplished Death
Formed in 1999, Aeon's roots are firmly in old-school death metal. Ever since the band's first release in 2001, 'Dark Order', Aeon have always strived to create death metal that should be more pioneering and of a miscellaneous style, instead of doing the usual "old-school" death-metal. A few revolutions of the band's latest album, 'Rise To Dominate', and it's easy to see where the band are coming from. Although extremely brutal, vicious and uncompromising, 'Rise to Dominate' is also very accessible, perhaps one of the most accessible death metal albums I've heard to date.
Let's not be mistaken here, we're not talking the death metal of Children of Bodom, Arch Enemy and their ilk, this is true death, keeping good company along side Morbid Angel, Deicide and Cannibal Corpse. Their satanic leanings litter this release from the upturned pentangle on the cover, to songs about Lucifer and the hypocrisy of Christianity. It's certainly not one for church group, or is it? I guess it depends what sort of church you go to. Of course, the music suits the lyrical content perfectly. 'Hefel Ben-ShaChar' sets the tone without exception. The guitars are bowl shudderingly heavy, the blast beats of Nils Fjellström are headache-inducing as well as being well placed and not over-used, and Tommy Dahlstrom's vocals are surprisingly coherent amidst his nasty growling and screaming.
Musically, Aeon impress. They aren't a one-trick blast-beating row. Aeon mix the tempos, time-signatures regularly to great effect, perhaps not as much as such bands as Anata, but the complex structures are still a feature of this release. The awesome 'Living Sin' contains a majestic guitar solo that Meshuggah would've been proud of, as does 'When The War Comes'. One sometimes wished the band adopted more of this idea because when it works it's simply brilliant. 'You Pray To Nothing' is a hauntingly slow but frantic barrage of metal bliss. The riffs are grinding and churning whilst the drums dance around them with double bass-pedal glee. It's wonderful stuff as is the genuinely eerie album closer, 'No One Escapes Us'. Its marching drums, choir and simple guitar melody makes for a sombre yet fitting conclusion.
Like with any album of this nature it all depends on the listener and how much they love this sort of extreme barrage. For death metal fans, 'Rise To Dominate' is an excellent example of its genre and is a no-brainer in terms of purchase. I've heard many death metal albums in my metal service and rarely heard one as accomplished and listenable as this. The variations and changes in rhythm add a potency to the music that doesn't detract anything from the music. For the un-iniciated 'Rise To Dominate' will be too much to take in straight away, and the songs do seem to blend together towards the end of the disc. But for those wanting to explore death metal then this would be a good place to start. Great band.