Aeons Of Old
When the Blood Runs Clear (ep)
Wydane przez RottenToTheCore/Shiver RecordsRok wydania 2006Kraj BelgiumNapisał Wouter4
In a day and age where bands seem to outdo each other on the level of technical accomplishments, complex songwriting and visceral intensity Belgium's Aeons Of Old take the scene back no less than a decade. Their brand of simplistic, straightforward (a term to be taken loosely) mid-nineties European death metal is somewhat reminiscent of those formative early second-tier Swedish death metal bands as Unanimated, A Canorous Quintet and the likes or "Spiritual Healing" era Death (it's a stretch, really) without the outstanding technique, memorable songwriting and intelligent lyrical content. This 5 track EP does indeed present awfully simplistic death metal, the straightforward part seems to be lacking. On 'Reign Of War' and 'Vive Sanguinem' Johan Antonissen (Suhrim) provides some additional backing vocals. However, one must listen closely to actually hear those, since both grunts are quite similar and there's no real interplay or vocal trade-offs either. One could consider this an upgraded demo; the band's performance is unenthusiastic and of garage level, technically nor compositionally they fail to make an impression on anyone with this kind of regressive work. The highly generic five tracks plod on lifelessly and the standard chord progressions, structures and formulas are abided here. The production is fairly decent, but don't expect to be blown off your feet in the same way as the first two Aborted records did. Although recorded in the same studio - the result isn't quite on par with those albums. Honestly, I can't fathom why this album should still be deemed relevant by contemporary standards, it's painful to sit though and there's no additional substance whatsoever to redeem this band in any way or form. With bands as Nile, Spawn Of Possession, Psycroptic and Behemoth pushing the genre to new heights I can't recommend this album to anyone in the right frame of mind. At any rate, avoid.
www.aeons.be
