Black Sun Aeon - Routa
Finland is known for lots of great atmospheric death doom metal acts, from Shape of Despair to Skepticism. So it is no surprise that Black Sun Aeon, also from Finland, has a lot to live up to. Forming in 2008 and consisting of two main members sharing vocal duties, with a session member in between, the band has already released one album in 2009 and then, seemingly rushed or just really fast ideas, released Routa. The album is a two disc set of wintery, dark, grim doom metal. It isn't exactly melodic, but it isn't crushing like funeral doom is. Black Sun Aeon are decent death doom with the usual long, clanging chords, growled vocals offset by mournful, deep clean ones, and haunting keyboards to help create even more atmosphere. There's very little to dislike in the formula.
Disc 1 of Routa offers a lot of black metal influenced doom metal in the way the guitars and drums are performed, but with a clean sound. The opening track, "Core of Winter," offers epic synth work with heavy chords before the mournful vocals come in and everything quiets down. Shortly, everything flares up again when the growling comes in- it's more of a snarl than a growl, not being too deep, but still hard to understand. From this point on the tracks are mostly done in this form: heavy chords, more death vocals than clean vocals, but more than enough clean ones to create a balance. There's plenty of winter influenced tunes such as "Frozen," "Wreath of Ice, " and the aptly titled "Cold" to make anyone feel chilly while listening to this disc. However, not everything here is just as boring as vocals and mournful chords. Tracks like "Wreath of Ice" offer some great distorted string picking instead of crashing chords, and "Dead Sun Aeon" even has some female vocals in the mix which are very pretty and enjoyable. The whole disc is a good first half, if you don't mind the winter themes or sometimes repetitive song structures.
Disc 2 is a little more different. For one the sound seems a lot heavier than disc 1 in the sense it is more distorted and raw, almost demo like. The music is more crushing, still has plenty of winter theme titles, and comes off more like blackened doom metal. There's more solos in the mix too, like on "River." While the first half sounded more like a slower death doom album such as Mournful Gust or My Lament, disc 2's music is a lot more faster in tempo and is more for fans of Novembers Doom or My Dying Bride. All very good comparisons and possible influences on Black Sun Aeon's work. "The Beast" has quite a bit of groove to it, sounding a lot more thrashy or possibly death metal influenced rather than the slow, mournful doom that fans would be used to. And of course, the last two tracks are also quite notable for the acoustic guitar work near the ends of the songs, especially on "Apocalyptic Revelations," along with layered harsh and clean vocals.
Everything here is performed very well. The atmosphere on both discs is similar, but different in the sense of heaviness. While the album isn't as cleanly melodic or featuring the usual 'beauty beast' vocals along the lines of great bands like Draconian, the music still has plenty of dark, grim atmosphere with just a touch of melancholy. A definite recommendation for fans of Rapture, Funeral, My Dying Bride, or Wine From Tears.
Disc 1 of Routa offers a lot of black metal influenced doom metal in the way the guitars and drums are performed, but with a clean sound. The opening track, "Core of Winter," offers epic synth work with heavy chords before the mournful vocals come in and everything quiets down. Shortly, everything flares up again when the growling comes in- it's more of a snarl than a growl, not being too deep, but still hard to understand. From this point on the tracks are mostly done in this form: heavy chords, more death vocals than clean vocals, but more than enough clean ones to create a balance. There's plenty of winter influenced tunes such as "Frozen," "Wreath of Ice, " and the aptly titled "Cold" to make anyone feel chilly while listening to this disc. However, not everything here is just as boring as vocals and mournful chords. Tracks like "Wreath of Ice" offer some great distorted string picking instead of crashing chords, and "Dead Sun Aeon" even has some female vocals in the mix which are very pretty and enjoyable. The whole disc is a good first half, if you don't mind the winter themes or sometimes repetitive song structures.
Disc 2 is a little more different. For one the sound seems a lot heavier than disc 1 in the sense it is more distorted and raw, almost demo like. The music is more crushing, still has plenty of winter theme titles, and comes off more like blackened doom metal. There's more solos in the mix too, like on "River." While the first half sounded more like a slower death doom album such as Mournful Gust or My Lament, disc 2's music is a lot more faster in tempo and is more for fans of Novembers Doom or My Dying Bride. All very good comparisons and possible influences on Black Sun Aeon's work. "The Beast" has quite a bit of groove to it, sounding a lot more thrashy or possibly death metal influenced rather than the slow, mournful doom that fans would be used to. And of course, the last two tracks are also quite notable for the acoustic guitar work near the ends of the songs, especially on "Apocalyptic Revelations," along with layered harsh and clean vocals.
Everything here is performed very well. The atmosphere on both discs is similar, but different in the sense of heaviness. While the album isn't as cleanly melodic or featuring the usual 'beauty beast' vocals along the lines of great bands like Draconian, the music still has plenty of dark, grim atmosphere with just a touch of melancholy. A definite recommendation for fans of Rapture, Funeral, My Dying Bride, or Wine From Tears.
Disc 1
1. Core of Winter
2. Frozen
3. Sorrowsong
4. Routa
5. Wreath of Ice
6. Dead Sun Aeon
7. Cold
Disc 2
1. Funeral of World
2. River
3. Frozen Kingdom
4. Wanderer
5. The Beast
6. Silence
7. Apocalyptic Reveries
Cyclone Empire
Reviewer: Colin McNamara
May 8, 2010
May 8, 2010
Next review:
Arryan Path - Terra Incognita
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