Apotheosis

Apotheosis - Farthest from the Sun
Nocturnal Art Productions, 2002
Genre: Symphonic Black Metal

1. Victory
2. The Maimed God
3. Raise the Dragon Banner
4. Kingdom











Don’t let the fact that there are only four tracks on this album fool you because this is a full-length album. Not to mention it is a full-length debut album by a one-man project. Now within the Black Metal scene there are a number of one man projects and I must say that this is by far one of the best solo projects I’ve ever heard.

Newly signed to Nocturnal Art Productions, Apotheosis has spent many years in the making of this album. With songs dating as far back as 1995 and 1997. I can tell that each song was recorded and written with the utmost precise care one can within a studio setting. It is simply amazing at how well a person can sound with programmed drums these days. Following in the footsteps of bands such as Limbonic Art, Apotheosis has decided to also program the drum lines. However, with recording technology at such a high and realistic level even programmed drums are difficult to tell from real drums these days. So the fact that the drums are programmed takes little away from the album as a whole. Rather there is probably an even higher degree of precision for I imagine it would be hard for a computer to go off time when recording. Be that as it may, the programmed drums do indeed sound quite magnificent in the overall presentation of this album.

Each song is of great epic length, bringing four tracks into a full-length album as many could have guessed. The album starts off with a very majestic keyboard intro that brings people back to the days of medieval times. The interesting twist added amongst the medieval tones is the Thrash influence. I understand the old and Symphonic Black Metal influences, but the Thrash was an unexpected surprise. I feel it adds more to the album overall and I think that other listeners would also find this a great addition to a Black Metal album. This particular songwriter is no doubt influenced by Fantasy and Medieval based worlds for he names himself as the ultimate evil character in Lord of the Rings; Sauron. It’s a fitting name really, for the music he plays is not of the happy medieval nature as some bands lean towards, rather it is evil and quite sinister most of the time living up to the evil connotations of the name Sauron.

Each song is masterfully composed bringing the listener through realms of melodic Black Metal to true Medieval Musicianship with realistic sounding instruments. Truly the composer, Sauron, has spent many years working and fine-tuning his own musical skill. For he shows great skill at his ability to play guitar and piano, not to mention his apparent understanding of drum lines. Overall this is quite an incredible album to behold for it is few Black Metal bands that even attempt to do this style. I wonder if newer Apotheosis material will be different, because the main songs on this album were written so long ago, that the songwriter may have changed his overall style also. Either way, this is a superb album, and I highly recommend it to everyone and should be sought by those who greatly enjoyed the Black Metal of the mid-nineties.

Apostasy

Apostasy - Cell 666
Black Mark Production, 2003
Genre: Symphonic Black Metal

1. Crowned in Thorns
2. Infernal Majesty
3. Cell 666
4. Icon
5. 7th Throne
6. Beneath the Lies of Prophecy
7. Reign of Chaos
8. Beauty of Death
9. Metempsychosis







I picked this album up off a whim because of a review I saw for it; however, the review was rather vague and didn’t really give me much insight into their particular style. For instance the review never even mentioned the fact that they played Symphonic Black Metal, just that it was Black Metal by good musicians with superb production. While the album is all that, the fact remains that these guys bear a very close resemblance to Dimmu Borgir. Now all my friends know I am not a very big fan of Dimmu Borgir aside from some of their earlier recordings (pre-Stormblåst), but regardless I am not a fan honestly. So it stands that Apostasy will not receive a very high praise from me for being a close copy of Dimmu Borgir. However, for those of you out there who are simply in love with the Dimmu Borgir style, you need to listen to Apostasy because their music is written so much better and with expert arrangements. Especially if you enjoyed the years of Dimmu Borgir with “Spiritual Black Dimensions” and prior to that release.

Okay, so now I assume everyone’s asking what makes them better and what the differences are. Now forget the fact that I’m not a Dimmu Borgir fan and rely on the fact that I know music so this should be a fairly accurate representation of what they’re doing different and better in my opinion. First noticeable difference is production, they have a much better production quality, and probably due to the fact this was recorded in 2003 which means technology is better and so on. Second thing I noticed was that the vocals are nearly the same. This has almost no difference at all and the guy seems to have learned to mimic Shagrath’s vocal performance almost to a T. This is an aspect that greatly disappointed me because if he did do a much different vocal arrangement then it would have given an entirely different feel to the music and possibly a more creative one. The keyboard work is what stood out more to me on this release because I found the keyboard arrangements much more interesting to listen to. Although, the song “Icon’s” keyboard intro is nearly identical to a Dimmu Borgir arrangement in "Hybrid Stigmata - The Apostasy" and then they sort of meshed it with "Towards Eternity" by Old Man's Child. Also later on in the song they have a sample of a phone ringing and someone answers it, but the sample is so far in the background I can’t figure out what the person said so it wasn’t a very well executed piece.

Now a major difference in the guitar arrangements is based around the fact that Apostasy does not use very many of those long slow moving passages that Dimmu Borgir overuses. They are present in the album, but it is not in every single song, which is one of the main reasons I get so bored while listening to Dimmu Borgir. Some songs have an extremely powerful guitar arrangement that really caught my ear such as in the songs “Reign of Chaos” and “Beauty of Death,” which I honestly hope is a direction Apostasy will head more in the future. That would then enable them to separate themselves from being compared to Dimmu Borgir. Although, they would still get compared, but it would be like they were taking the style Dimmu Borgir helped pioneer in a different direction. A very curious aspect of this album is that it is indeed Black Metal but only one song features a blast beat. While this really caught my ear because the drum lines never got completely boring and I found he managed to hold this together very well. Most people hear the name Black Metal dropped and will automatically think of blast beating on the drums, and these days it is starting to move away from that. Look at the release of the Thorns self titled album and there is not one blast beat on there, but it is still inherently a Black Metal album. Apostasy manages to put it together very well and in my opinion have released something better than Dimmu Borgir could. The songs flow together perfectly and there are no awkward transitions which are ever present in the newer Dimmu Borgir releases.

So as I mentioned above if you are not a Dimmu Borgir fan then stay away from this album altogether. However, you will appreciate the steps Apostasy has taken to refine the style especially if you are a musician. If you are a die hard Dimmu Borgir fan then I can urge you nothing more than to find this album and listen to it because you will truly appreciate it much more than I have.

Anorexia Nervosa

Anorexia Nervosa - Redemption Process
Listenable Records, 2004
Genre: Symphonic Black Metal

1. The Shining
2. Antiinferno
3. Sister September
4. Worship Manifesto
5. Codex-Veritas
6. An Amen
7. The Sacrament
8. Les Tzars (Indochine Cover)





Anorexia Nervosa has returned to the scene with a very impressive follow up to “New Obscurantis Order.”  I’m not entirely sure how they managed to do it, but they have brought forth a more impressive composition this time around than their incredible previous works.  Although there have been some slight changes to Anorexia Nervosa’s sound design and compositional elements.  However, they are highly well performed on this release, but they are, honestly, slightly simpler in design and concept.  While I was truly enthralled in their complexity of the previous works and chaos, I now find myself appreciating this slightly more straightforward Anorexia Nervosa.  This album only proves further, to me, that despite a decent length of a career they have managed to refine and redesign their sound.  It’s just as beautiful as it has always been and in some ways even more divine in its representation.

The first thing I noticed about them is that they greatly changed their image.  They look far more professional nowadays and less like an image act.  Rather than being pictured in gaudy dress with lots of leather they are now pictured in suits, which I think complements their more refined sound this time around.  The second aspect that changed on this album is the lyrics behind the album.  Basically they shifted from having predominantly sexual based lyrics to more religiously based lyrics.  I will get more in depth with that aspect in a later paragraph because they have progressed a lot in this area.  Thirdly I noticed the lack of a predominant chaos which has overridden their previous works.  For some listeners this may be a damning aspect to wanting to purchase this album, however, I say, don’t let this hold you back in the least.  The power, the grace, the intensity all still remains integral to their musical performance and I feel it is as impressive as ever.  An album of this particular design may have waned under the chaotic structuring of their previous works, but this album brings forth focused listening to the listener.  Something that I think was very intentional behind Anorexia Nervosa’s grand design for this album.

The vocal arrangements, while not as complex as “New Obscurantis Order,” are no less astounding.  Hreidmarr has taken his vocal abilities to the proper next level and exhibits range like never before in the Anorexia Nervosa world.  His words are nearly perfectly audible and his harsh wails where he does octave shifts mid-riff are simply beautiful.  He has progressed greatly as a vocalist to perform such transitional shifts and his arrangements are no less than perfection.  We all saw how exceptional he was at this particular area with “New Obscurantis Order” when he comprised a simply flawless vocal performance for a highly varied album.  Take note here as you listen to the song “An Amen” the flawless vocal tone between the pause transitions in the music when he sings the lines “Just between the ant-hill and the opium den.”  While Hreidmarr may run his voice through a chorus processor to get this tone, it’s clear that it’s very close to the recorded aspect and this is essentially vocal perfection in my world.  While I can personally hit ranges far more complex than this, I am constantly impressed with Hreidmarr’s work because few Black Metal bands meet my vision for vocal arrangements.  Most bands stick with a monotone performance, Anorexia Nervosa graces their listeners with all points of their skill on every level, throughout this album and throughout their discography.

A very interesting point to this album is the production shift from their previous works.  I know that Xort and Bayle have predominantly engineered all the Anorexia Nervosa albums, but I am very impressed, yet again, by the production elements behind this release.  On the previous works, “Drudenhaus” and “New Obscurantis Order” specifically, the production actually lends to the chaotic nature of the music.  However, this time around Xort and Bayle had to change their approach and really clean up their recording quality as musicians and engineers.  The production on here is far cleaner than the previous works and this has more of an emphasis on the guitars, which, as a guitarist, I like very much.  I always thought their sound was a little too heavy on the keyboards at times, but on this album they took the focus to the guitar so you can really notice how the songs play together.  I personally like this newfound approach to their production, I have spoken with a few fans who did not like this approach nearly as much as I did, but alas I can’t help but praise their newfound approach.

One of the more impressive tracks held on “New Obscurantis Order” was “Hail Tyranny,” a piano solo by Xort.  You won’t find anything like this on this album, so unfortunately you don’t get to hear him flaunt his skill as a pianist.  This is probably due to two reasons that I can identify.  One being that he already did it and doesn’t feel the need to show off again, because Anorexia Nervosa seem to be quite respectable musicians and realize that too much flaunting lends to people being bored with such a practice.  I must say, though, that the orchestral keyboard work is nothing less than supremely impressive on here.  It sounds even more than ever like they worked with choirs or a full orchestra on this release.  I find this humorous; because bands like Dimmu Borgir who actually do work with real orchestral elements manage to suck so much more than Anorexia Nervosa and on so many more levels than just the keyboards.  The keyboards on “Redemption Process” lend that extra kick of power into Anorexia Nervosa’s design and give even more interest into their grandiose design.  Secondly, this is a concept album and doesn’t bear the need of such brazen musicianship because it would take away from the glory experienced to the tracks as a whole.  Thus I am lead to my lyrical interpretation of this indomitable release.

Anorexia Nervosa’s lyrical inceptions bear second only to those of Deathspell Omega this year (2004).  Like many bands in France and now spreading to other parts of the world, Anorexia Nervosa’s chosen topic on this release is religiously based.  One aspect of Black Metal of this nature that I have the utmost respect for is the care they put into the album's content.  No more is there mindless drivel about Satan and hating Christ, simply because they don’t like Christians.  Rather the reasons are backed up and brought forth in far more intelligent themes.

They specifically render their disdain for Christ as plain as day, but for the foolish reader, I could see them saying Anorexia Nervosa are converting.  When reading through the booklet I noticed printed within the thanks list “… all friends for support and late night phone calls during the hard days I’ve been through, you and I know who you are: Hreidmarr.”  I can’t help but think that this statement might have something to do with their sudden shift in concepts.  I mean to go from predominantly sexual lyrics to true religious enlightenment is quite a shift.

I look to the lyrics behind "Antinferno" technically, “Anti-Inferno,” but they have no doubt taken some poetic license.  “A new cross on the hills of Jerusalem held by the arms of a stronger Christ.”  One can take this in a couple of ways.  You could look at it as the literal translation of Christ meaning “Savior” which would mean that they agree with the Jews in the concept that the true savior has yet to grace this planet.  On the other hand they could mean Christ in reference to Jesus Christ meaning that a new religious power will focus on this world.  The Catholic Church, the obvious choice for representing Christian power and control, has done nothing but rape and destroy this world for a thousand years and more since its inception.  In a religion wrought with lies and deception this following line seems to bring to light that Anorexia Nervosa agree with the former rather than the latter of the two reasons: “Now this is the very beginning of the end.  Now lies have to be broken.  Yes, cursed be betrayers for they shall be left behind and on this day grace shall be redefined.”  This, I think, alludes to the Cabbalistic/Mystic connotation that wisdom and truth are the true representation of God rather than a diocese that lies seemingly perpetually.

As further proof for Anorexia Nervosa’s endless hatred for Christianity I turn to “Worship Manifesto” to the specific lines, “Seven mortal wounds for my vanity.  Stigmata of your mockery.”  This clearly identifies that Christianity is a religion of the vain.  A conclusion I have long ago come to.

"Codex-Veritas" seems to be a true acknowledgement behind this wisdom and truth of the universe.  “Learn to not care about their punishments.  Act of war and liberation.  You are not one of them, not the same breed.  You always felt out of place.  Join your true scene.  You want fire, you burn.  Want the Great, not minor.  The absolute, the black and blue, the forever storm.”  For me this is a statement about the achievement of freedom.  Living and growing up in a religious community and then completely breaking away from it!

For my final lyrical work up I turn to “The Sacrament” the closing track on this album for those who have the regular jewel case edition.  “It is coming.  My last day, sinner and saint.”  As a closing track this is superb because it alludes to the fact that everyone dies and no one can escape the fact of doing good or doing in evil  in some way.  “We’re all waiting for this masquerade to end and nothing happens.  No tears required just some dead meat between your thighs.”  Since this album takes reference from Christianity, the masquerade could be the predominant Christian faith in the world as being a masquerade.  Everyone is waiting for the truth to be revealed and clearly Christianity is not going to give any answers.  In fact I think this ending to the album digs even deeper and delves into an atheistic concept.  This would be the "...and nothing happens" part.  Meaning, when you die... you just die.  That is the end for you!  Atheism really is the most logical conclusion.

For those that have the special edition digi-pak such as myself you can find an Indochine cover called “Les Tzars.”  A song completely in French and a bit more upbeat than the other works of Anorexia Nervosa, but I have yet to hear the original unfortunately.  Honestly, I think the song is interesting and quite enjoyable and doesn’t really take away from the awe inspiring concept held within this release.  However, I can see why they made this a limited press of six thousand copies; because it could take away from the overall majesty they exhibited here.

Clearly I highly recommend this album and I think it is a real testament to their true abilities as musicians and philosophers.  It may be an easier album to grasp musically, but lyrically it has myriad points that can enlighten those who seek out deeper meanings.  This is a truly great work about the “Redemption Process” on this planet.

Anorexia Nervosa - Suicide is Sexy
Apokalypse Records, 2004
Genre: Black/Death Metal

Nihil Negativum:
1. Scene I: Le Patient Est Isolé
2. Scene I: In A Brown Gnostic Study
3. Scene II: Quelque Chose Comme L'idée Qu'il N'aurait Mieux Pas Fallu Naître
4. Scene II: Anamorphic Effect; The Revival
5. Scene III: Retrouver Son État Initial, Éviter… Avant Qu'il Ne Soit Trop Tard
6. Scene III: In The Mental Confinement (Mosaïc Of Infinite Visions)
7. Final: Avec Le Triomphe De L'esprit Et La Faillite De La Déite
Garden of Delight:
8. The Shadows Howling
9. Garden of Delight
10. Dismal Paradise
Live At Le Caméléon, Lille, France In 1995:
11. Autoerotic Death
12. Lepros Darma

Even though this came out in the year 2004 this is not new material.  In fact it’s the re-release of their demo material.  One of them, “Nihil Negativum”, actually got some distribution in the underground. However, the other one “Garden of Delight” seems to have been something that band has kept to themselves.  So this is probably one of the only places you will be able to hear these three tracks, which pre-dates their more “official” demo of “Nihil Negativum.”  Furthermore “Garden of Delight” is so old that it came out when they were known as the band Necromancia, thankfully they later came up with something more original like Anorexia Nervosa.  Anyone deep into the underground has heard of Necromantia, so there may have been future confusion.

Now this is an extremely limited release with only 999 being printed.  I have #592 hand numbered.  It

comes in an excellent boxed package with a jewel cased CD inside.  Inside the boxed case the whole band has signed the interior of the box, so this is truly a collector’s item.  These things lasted probably two months, tops, before they went out of print, so unfortunately it is no longer an easy album to acquire.  So if you are an Anorexia Nervosa fan and you collect their material, if you ever see this I suggest getting it.  Getting an original print of this will only become more difficult as time goes on and as Anorexia Nervosa becomes more popular the price of “Suicide is Sexy” will eventually be worth a decent sum of money.  So don’t hesitate if you see one somewhere.  The cover on the Jewel Cased CD was supposed to be the cover for “Exile,” the bands first full length release.  However, the record label had rejected it, but it is finally in print for you to see now.

For those who are more familiar with Anorexia Nervosa’s newer material, be forewarned this is nothing like the music they play now.  If you read my review for “Exile” you will see they were not a Symphonic Black Metal band in the beginning.  Their demo material isn’t very similar to “Exile” either, but it bears more resemblance to “Exile” than say, “Drudenhaus.”  The first demo you hear on this release, “Nihil Negativum,” isn’t like “Exile” either, it’s actually more Death Metal oriented in my opinion.  Mostly due to the vocals, the guitar work is still just as strange as that on “Exile.”  It seems that when Anorexia Nervosa was conceived as a concept they had initially intended to write a sort of Play in album format, and then perform this play on stage as live shows.  A novel idea, however, their music was quite lacking.  I think the general ups and downs of tempo and feel of the songs is designed to mimic the characters emotions.  It was a good idea, but it was poorly executed on “Nihil Negativum” and even on “Exile.”  The demo material is nothing exciting, but you can hear the band’s potential as musicians.  I’m glad Season of Mist picked them up after hearing this because that allowed Anorexia Nervosa to develop into what they are today, which is vastly different from how they started.  It seems each song has a sort of introduction, strange keyboard effects with spoken word in French over it.  I think the actual metal songs are spoken in English though.  I rather wish they had printed the lyrics on this release, I think they would be interesting to read over.

The next demo material was recorded in 1993, and it’s before they were even called Anorexia Nervosa.  I wasn’t even aware they were called Necromancia at one time, nor did I know this demo even existed; all I knew about was “Nihil Negativum.”  I can see why this one got them nowhere.  It wasn’t anything new; it seemed like under produced Death Metal with a slight attempt at clean guitar tone experimentation.  Granted I enjoy having this old material, to see how Anorexia Nervosa developed as a band and in the end it amazes me even more that they became who they are today.  However, the music is not very desirable, but what do you honestly expect from Demo material.  It’s not going to be top notch, however, even with good production I don’t see the “Garden of Delight” demo ever interesting me much musically.

The extra material, which is only available on this CD are two live tracks recorded in 1995.  I’m simply amazed at the quality of this recording.  It’s done in 1995… and I can hear everything.  This is simply impressive; if anyone listens to the live Mayhem recordings they know the recording quality is less than desirable.  However, somehow, probably a miracle of modern technology, Anorexia Nervosa has captured one of their early live performances successfully.  Granted the music isn’t anything to brag about, but the two songs featured are better than the songs on “Nihil Negativum” so it shows that they were improving all the time.  However, the vocals at the beginning of “Lepros Darma” are just weird and don’t even need to be performed in that manner.  I’m not sure what the purpose of doing that was.  It threw me off when it came on, because “Autoerotic Death” flowed quite easily.  Another aspect of this ultra rare CD is the bonus live video track also recorded in 1995.  I’m rather impressed Anorexia Nervosa still had all this extra material, or salvaged it from fans.  It’s not something I wouldn’t expect to still be around after almost ten years.  The video track is interesting; it’s the performance for the closing of the “Nihil Negativum” demo and is around eleven minutes long.  The quality isn’t too bad, the music is audible and you can see the band.  However, its video taped further back in the crowd, so you see all the fans at the venue in front of you.  There are no close-ups of the band or anything; it’s just a still camera capturing the performance. 

In closing I’m honestly quite glad I have this album in my collection.  It would be very difficult to locate in the future.  Regardless of the music’s quality it is still an enjoyable listen.  It was an interesting evolutionary note that early on Anorexia Nervosa leaned more towards a Death Metal vocal performance than Black Metal.  I would have guessed otherwise, so needless to say I was surprised.  As a collector, this is a must have release, it is beautifully packaged and well worth the money spent on it.  However, it is not something to purchase for its musical content, merely if you are curious about where the band came from in the beginning.

Aeba

Aeba - Nemesis, Decay of God's Grandeur
Self-Released, 2012
Genre: Melodic Black Metal

1. The Hunter and the Hunted One
2. Towards the Grandness from Above
3. Leitwolf
4. Shatterer of Worlds
5. In Memoriam
6. Where I am there is No God
7. Amok - Natural Born Killer
8. Antagonism, Eternal...






As expected, after four years arrives the new Aeba album. Sadly this is also to be Aeba's last album. The band has decided to put the project to rest as of 2013. It is quite unfortunate, because I feel that Aeba is really hitting a high note in their compositions, but it was also very interesting to see that this was independently released by the band. That, in no way, diminished the quality of the packaging, thankfully. Like "Kodex V" we have a beautiful digipak design with a panelled booklet inside. I'm not really a fan of panels and prefer a stapled book, but the design and layout is pretty nice.

One thing I will never complain about when a band decides to stop is if they manage to end on a high note. "Nemesis" is definitely the highest note for Aeba's career. Over the years we've seen them steadily improve and even change some of their approach to song writing and Black Metal altogether. "Nemesis" takes an even more aggressive approach to their Melodic Black Metal style, which instantly makes me love this album a lot more. Aeba has often sat in the mediocre, but solid range of Black Metal for me, which is probably why they've never really been well known or talked about on a larger scale. However, with "Nemesis" I think they actually squeak into the range of really well done Black Metal. I've found myself paying much more attention to the music this time around it certainly is a lot more interesting. They certainly haven't done away with their usual melodic moments that their long time fans expect, but they've written the music in such a way that it is just vastly more interesting to engage with.

If you are a fan of Melodic Black Metal, then I would rank "Nemesis" as an album that you should really spend some time checking out. I'm not sure I would have ever said this about Aeba before. They were always a band to hear once you've exhausted all the great and necessary pieces, but "Nemesis" will satisfy that high quality requirement too. Sad to see them end the project when they've released such a great record, but at least we have something wonderful in the end.

Aeba - Kodex V
Twilight, 2008
Genre: Melodic Black Metal

1. Lux ex Tenebris
2. More than Hate
3. Nemesis - Lass Sie Brennen
4. Seven Souls
5. Lifecode Sin
6. La Petite Morte
7. Geist der Dekadenz
8. The God Below Us
9. De Adventu Antichristi et Fine Mundi
10. Ruins of Heaven
11. King or Slave



Keeping up with Aeba's seemingly intermittent return to metal, since their album releases span nearly four years between albums. This is never a bad thing as long as your albums are solid and I'd rather eleven new songs on a full-length (especially at over an hour in length!) than three songs on an EP every year, just so the "name" can stay out there.  Based on "Shemhamforash", I was actually pretty interested in hearing new material from this long running German band and I'm happy to say that "Kodex V" improves on their style even more than ever before, this might have to do with the arrival of new guitarist Xsaahr, which may have really allowed them to flesh out the guitar sound. This release comes as a beautiful digipak with a full booklet.

"Kodex V" feels more like a return to basics with respect to metal. They've really taken all the keyboards out of their music and focused on guitar writing, which is something I appreciate a lot more. A lot of the Symphonic metal, in general, doesn't it do it very much for me, so I was able to get into "Kodex V" even more than their prior albums. Since they still kept that melodic atmosphere they draw their style a lot from the early Swedish scene, I feel. Bands like Dissection, Lord Belial, Sacramentum, Sorhin, and Siebenbürgen come to mind with this release. There are some tracks like "The God Below Us" that have a very distinct Thrash Metal feel throughout a good portion of it. That's one of the few that steps outside the Melodic Black Metal style, they rest are firmly rooted in that genre. Aeba do a great job at composing songs in an aggressive fashion, but also having parts that come off as quite beautiful sounding.

Melodic Black Metal is sometimes hard for me to review, because, while being good, it doesn't make me pay extremely close attention to it. I tend to wander in and out of these kinds of albums, which is probably why I do not listen to this style very often. Either way, if you are far more into the Melodic Black Metal style than I am and you fiend for this, I think "Kodex V" is an excellent album to check out. It certainly satisfies the desire for this style! I really would like to see Aeba write in this fashion more often... perhaps the future will give us more, but we'll have to wait, at least, four years I'm sure.

Aeba - Shemhamforash - Des hasses Antlitz
Twilight, 2004
Genre: Melodic Black Metal

1. Intro
2. Mit Zorn in Meinem Herzen
3. Where No Light Is
4. The Angel of Genocide
5. As Wolf Among sheep
6. Between the Abyss
7. Storm of Vengeance
8. Shemhamforash - Des hasses Antlitz
9. Into the Dark Valley
10. Hate is Not Enough





This is Aeba’s fourth effort and by far their best and most successful effort thus far.  It is the most mature and well produced.  However, they have had some stark line-up changes.  They have lost a founding member of the band, their original drummer, Nidhøgg, and replaced him with Infernal Desaster.  He’s a solid drummer so I have no complaints about his performance on this album.  Though they didn’t even list a drummer for “Rebellion” so I am unsure of who played on that album, so Nidhøgg may have been gone for a lot longer, though it was likely the original drummer.  They have also gotten a new keyboardist to replace Stephanie, so she had a rather short career with the band.  Anyway, as soon as you put this in your player you can tell this is a different band.

For the past three albums they have started each opus with a keyboard based intro.  This album has an atmospheric intro as well, but it’s more based around samples and things of that nature than a flat out keyboard intro like on previous albums.  “Shemhamforash” seems to be more of a blend between “Rebellion” and “Flammenmanifest.”  Overall it seems to cater more towards Melodic and fierce Black Metal rather than Symphonic Black Metal, so I would say this is more of a continuation of “Flammenmanifest” than “Rebellion.”  However, the Thrash sections found on “Flammenmanifest” are nowhere to be found on “Shemhamforash.”  Also the keyboard arrangements are very low key again.  In “Rebellion” they were a bit more in forefront, but like on “Flammenmanifest” they are back in the far background.  There are some somber and very melancholic tracks on here but then you have tracks like “The Angel of Genocide” which is a whirlwind Black Metal composition that I’ve been saying these guys should play!  This album is way more of a success for me because the intense Black Metal dominates this release and I think that suits this band’s style and approach better.  On prior albums I felt the riffs that went with their intense sections were better than their slower Melodic Black Metal riffs.  I’ve heard better Melodic Black Metal riffing from other bands, but Aeba seemed to have a better knack at the harsher material.  So as you can see I feel this album was a much more fitting album for this band and I think they finally fell into a compositional method that works best for them.  The somber and melancholic sections are still present here, but they are nicely weighed against faster and more hateful passages without sounding overly choppy.  They figured out on “Flammenmanifest” how to transition the two styles together fairly smoothly and they used that knowledge even more effectively here.

A couple gripes I have with the album are the title and the band pictures.  Frankly their Black Metal imagery on this release is so cliché it hurts.  It’s to the point where they look silly rather than scary.  I mean come on the guy in corpse paint throwing the horns and holding a bottle of alcohol just looks comical to me.  It looks like the imagery is more candid rather than serious.  When compared to the prior releases where they actually looked like they were trying to use the imagery, on “Shemhamforash” it looks like they’re just goofing around.  Obviously that doesn’t change the fact this album sounds great, but it just looked silly to me, this imagery is why I can’t take bands like Maniac Butcher all that seriously.  But Aeba sounds like they want to be taken seriously, so I’m just saying I think they could use the imagery more effectively on their albums.  It is one thing to be silly and laugh with your friends, which even I have done when in corpse paint and what not, but I wouldn’t be able to take myself seriously as a musician if I pressed it onto an album that I released.  Maybe that’s just me, and I’m sure there are many people out there saying that “image is nothing” and reciting a Sprite commercial to me, but imagery does have its marketable aspects.  For example, the album cover of “Shemhamforash” is very eye catching, it’s pretty much the main reason I wanted to hear Aeba.  Here’s the ideaology: if a band spends that much time on their imagery and making their album look well done, what must their music sound like?  Granted this isn’t something that is 100%, but often times if you look at bands with eye catching album covers (and most of these things are designed by the band) then typically they take their music pretty seriously.  And no I don’t buy albums solely based on colorful artwork, and no not all bands with cool covers are good, take Bloodhammer’s “Post-Apocalypse Trilogy,” that album did not live up to it’s cover quotient.  So this obviously isn’t a 100% guarantee, but it’s helped more often than not in my opinion.

Lastly the title of the album “Shemhamforash” is odd.  I looked it up and it’s some Hebrew thing that means “the explicit name” referring to God.  Apparently Anton LaVey picked it up and is now used as some sort of hails in terms of that Satanic religion.  So now it has something to do with Satanism more than the Hebrew meaning.  Why don’t I like this?  Well, frankly, LaVey Satanism is retarded.  Look at that, he takes the name of God and then applies it to his version of Satanism.  It’s just silly, I mean, I can’t think of better evidence that LaVey was just making this shit up off of a whim.  Its silly things like this why Black Metal as a whole has typically shunned that brand of Satanism, and with good reason.  Now I don’t know what the lyrics to Aeba’s songs are, but I surely hope they aren’t touting the torch of LaVey.  LaVey even attempted to recruit the early bands of Black Metal, but they rejected his offer because they even knew that this form of “Satanism” was no different than Christianity, in the sense of foolish and fabricated stories.  Black Metal is a war against such things; LaVey Satanism is about living peaceably and not bothering others, quite a difference from a genre that wants to tout an image of war.  To Aeba’s defense they don’t have anything about the Satanic Church in the back of their booklet or thanking it, so that leads me to believe they may not be affiliated.  However, they may mask this belief because it may not yield the kind of publicity they want.  Who knows, until I actually ask the band this question directly, I will not know.  Anyway, at this point, the word Shemhamforash is used by the Satanic Church, and may have been a buzz word the band picked up on and felt like using because it might have older demonic tendencies.  It does have older tendencies, but they are anything but demonic.  However, I could be way off base and they might actually be using the ancient Hebrew incarnation of the word and are making reference to it in a far more intelligent manner than I am currently supposing.  Maybe I should interview this band…  I did seek out an interview with them and nothing was mentioned of LaVey or the Satanic Church, but rather the band members own idea of Satanic ideology, so there is hope!

Anyway, this is by far the best Aeba album ever released and I would recommend this to a degree.  They are still not performing the most cutting edge style of Black Metal, but I think they finally found a good medium for what they were trying to accomplish.  The production levels are even better than the last and the delivery is even more hateful than before.  I think this album has a lot of things for fans of varying degrees of Black Metal,  Anyway, I recommend this and I think most people would find it fairly enjoyable at the very least.

Aeba - Rebellion - Edens Asche
Last Episode, 2001
Genre: Symphonic Black Metal

1. Majestic Veil of Darkness
2. Sacred Demon Angel
3. Once You Summoned Me
4. ...Between Wrath and Anguish
5. Darkness - Embrace My Soul
6. Dominion of Terror
7. Flammenherz
8. Spiritual Evolution
9. Rebellion - Des Zorns Banner
10. Kristalltränen

After the performance on “Flammenmanifest” I was curious to see what they would put out on their follow up album.  I was surprised with what “Rebellion” sounded like, because they have returned to the Symphonic Black Metal style, similar to “Im Schattenreich…”  However, they did apply what they learned and used it on the “Rebellion” recording just like on “Flammenmanifest.”  I was somewhat expecting them to go for a fiercer edge, but they did not go that route.  In fact the songs seem to be slower and more melancholic, more so than even the parts of “Im Schattenreich…”

I’m not positive, but maybe this shift is related to the fact they changed Keyboardists.  Maybe on “Flammenmanifest” they were phasing out Daemonia, or she just wasn’t participating as much with the band and that forced the band to write songs that were a lot more guitar driven.  Maybe the work on “Rebellion” is what Aeba really wants to sound like.  From the intro track you can sort of tell that the new keyboardist, Stephanie, is a better composer and player than Daemonia and maybe they wanted to incorporate that fact as much as possible in the composition.

Like I said before, I was surprised they shifted back to this.  I honestly had a harder time getting into this album, but as I’ve said on numerous occasions, I’m not a die hard Symphonic Black Metal fan.  As before, they didn’t drown the music in synths, thankfully, so it was definitely something I could listen to and the production was similar to that on “Flammenmanifest,” so you can hear what’s going on quite well.  Though, when I first put this on right after “Flammenmanifest” it seems like the production is a little quieter, still mixed very well, but quieter for some reason.  It’s a lot more solid in composition also, which is another thing they kept from “Flammenmanifest” and thankfully this return didn’t bring up the choppiness of “Im Schattenreich…”  During parts I would compare them to early Hecate Enthroned a bit because most of the songs have a much more melancholic feel to them rather than a fiercer feel to them, much like “Slaughter of Innocence” did.  Plus on the song “Once You Summoned Me” Isegrim uses shriekier vocals making the resemblance even more apparent, however, he doesn’t use the insanely high shriek like you find on Hecate Enthroned.  The only song that really has a major tempo shift is “… Between Wrath and Anguish” which has a considerable amount of blasting sequences and I quite enjoyed this intense display on this album.  Maybe they felt it was time to mix it up and stray away from the melancholic compositions.  While this may have been the case the majority of the music was still somber, beautiful and melancholic, so I had a harder time getting into the album.  I typically go for the uglier side of Black Metal, so this wasn’t entirely for me, but if you’re someone who is looking for solidly written Symphonic Black Metal, I really don’t think you could go wrong with this release.  I definitely recommend “Rebellion” over “Im Schattenreich…”  There’s even this one part where “Flammenherz” is closing out and it’s very reminiscent of The Abyss song off their album “The Other Side.”

Overall there’s a lot more to this album than “Flammenmanifest” but I liked the work on “Flammenmanifest” a little bit more despite the fact it lacked a bit more direction.  “Rebellion” certainly isn’t a bad recording by any means, but it just wasn’t fierce enough for me.  I do like hypnotic styled Black Metal that is quite relaxing, in a way, but I seem to only enjoy that when it’s achieved through conventional instruments.  Either way, if you’re a fan of Symphonic Black Metal I really think this is what you would be looking for.

Aeba - Flammenmanifest
Last Episode, 1999
Genre: Black Metal

1. Until the Darkness...
2. Seelenfrost
3. Winds of the Dusk
4. Shadows Over Gods Creation
5. Todeshass (Of War and Darkness)
6. Inimicissimus
7. The Dark Manifestation
8. ...Never Ends

This is Aeba’s second effort and as soon as you put this on you can tell we’re dealing with a band that has already matured a little in sound.  The production alone is a lot better and the drum work feels a lot stronger when compared to “Im Shattenreich…”  Either way you can just tell they’ve learned from their debut release and are trying different things overall.

One of the interesting things about Aeba is they seem to enjoy writing rather long songs, with most of these tracks being over the seven minute mark.  A testament to them is that you don’t even notice!  Usually if a generic sounding band writes excessively long songs you tend to notice how boring it gets after a while and that’s why if you’re a generic band it’s usually good form to keep songs five minutes or under, but Aeba break away from this rule of thumb.  They are good enough writers where they don’t have to fall into this trap and they keep the songs moving along quite nicely to the point where parts of the song aren’t over played.  It’s not like the astonishing bands where you really don’t want the song to end, but Aeba’s songs just feel complete.  They’re not too long; they’re not too short, they’re just right.

Another shift from “Im Schattenreich…” is the use of keyboards.  They’re far more low key on “Flammenmanifest,” in fact I would say they barely make an appearance and that’s why I wouldn’t even term this as a Symphonic Black Metal album.  Overall this is more of a traditional Black Metal album mixed with Melodic Black Metal.  There are parts in the song “Tödeshaß (Of War and Darkness) that even remind me of something like Svartsyn, which is great!  Other changes are that they added in a lot of catchier riffing and have a slightly Thrashier feel in certain parts, which wasn’t really found on “Im Schattenreich…”  This is overwhelmed by the Melodic touches which they seem to favor, but you can tell they’re experimenting with different blends.  They still used the clean guitar passages like you heard in “Im Shattenreich…” but I think they were blended much better on “Flammenmanifest.”  This is what I meant by being more mature writers, they’re not nearly as erratic as before and the songs on the album go together and flow together much better than before.  It’s nice to see that they’re not just a stagnant band and they’re trying to write different Black Metal, while keeping their core concept of what Black Metal should sound like.  I do respect bands like this, because they don’t just release the same album everyday, they try something new but still keep it Black Metal.  The vocal work is great just like in the last album, but you can tell it was mixed a lot better in this recording.

In the end they’re still technically rather generic, but have released something much better this time around and it’s actually much more listenable than their debut effort.  I’m still not sure if Aeba have truly found their niche in Black Metal, as their sound still isn’t really something that really stands out.  They could be on their way and this album leaves me wondering if they’ll eventually end up dropping the keyboards altogether.  If they move into something more powerful and extreme sounding I think it would do them justice.

Aeba - Im Schattenreich...
Last Episode, 1998
Genre: Symphonic Black Metal

1. Rising Black Dominion
2. Gottesmord
3. Dragonstorm
4. Ewigkeit - Gedanken Einer Misanthropischen Seele
5. Revenge - The Strength Beyond the Light
6. Superiority is the Gift of Hate
7. Zerfall







Aeba was another one of my many random purchases in my search for more bands that I would possibly like.  I mostly picked this up because it was released on Last Episode based on my past experience with purchasing albums they put out such as Isegrim, I’ve been quite pleased.  I wasn’t expecting anything fully ground breaking, I’ve never heard Last Episode put out something incredibly compelling, but what they have put out has typically been pretty well done, so I figured I would give them a try.

I’ve noticed that from my perception my expectations going into anything are what really make or break my liking an album.  If I’m expecting something spectacular and I hate it, I hate it a lot more than I would if I was just expecting something mediocre.  Say what you will about the German Black Metal scene, but there haven’t been too many German bands out there who really release a new feeling to Black Metal.  Yes, they do have a bit of their own sound because of their region, but as a listener I can’t help but feel like there’s something missing from their compositions usually.  It’s like their atmosphere isn’t as present as some of the other regions of the world, I really can’t explain this, but Germany for the most part has fairly fierce Black Metal bands and if that’s something you are looking for, you will enjoy German Black Metal.  Regardless of how generic it is, I can typically yield some enjoyment from that form of Black Metal, so I have been pleased with my German purchases for the most part.

Aeba is no exception to this rule, thus far.  Aeba are a pretty solid Symphonic Black Metal band and they have the Symphonic’s in the background enough to have a good mix with the Black Metal.  There are very few Symphonic Black Metal bands I enjoy that drown their music in synths, and since Aeba doesn’t do that I find them a fair listen overall.  Luckily the music seems to be a lot more guitar driven and they draw their atmosphere from that rather than trying to drown it in synths and saying “we’re atmospheric.”  This, in turn, makes Aeba sound a lot more fierce rather than melancholic and Gothic, which can happen when bands have a focus on the synths.  You can tell Aeba draws their influence from early Gehenna or early Dimmu Borgir most likely.  They have some lighter cleaner guitar passages, probably attempting to get that “melancholic” feel in their music.  Like in “Dragonstorm,” they have this lead guitar section over it to create more of a somber feel in the song, but then they go into this blasting Black Metal section for a few seconds then back to the clean guitar.  It has this erratic feel to it.  Not all of their songs are like this, but there are moments on this album that have that feel.  This being the debut album they may not have matured fully into what they will be in the future.  This happens sometimes with new bands, especially nowadays because Black Metal has existed for such a long time.  People aren’t influenced by a handful of bands anymore, they could have heard hundreds of bands and they try to include a lot of those influences in their music, so more and more I hear debut albums that lack direction, and, again, Aeba is no exception to this seemingly new rule.  Maybe Aeba will find their niche, but bands are taking longer and longer to find their own direction in this world.

Overall is Aeba a must have?  Not really.  It’s not horrible, but “Im Schattenreich…” as a debut album is simply a typical Symphonic Black Metal album from my perspective, it’s no different than owning something like Ishtar.  If you’re looking for a band that might have future potential to become a solid force, then this is something you may want to watch.  It’s still pretty well done overall, but I wasn’t expecting to be blown away by Aeba either.  We’ll see what happens in their follow-up recordings.