Aeternus – Philosopher
Release Date: 17th November 2023
Label: Agonia Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Dark Metal, Blackened Death Metal.
FFO: Behemoth, Enslaved, Gehenna.
Review By: Jeff Finch
There’s a certain level of expectation of disappointment when listening to a genre you’re a fan of, just beneath the surface; not necessarily to be intentionally negative when listening, but the knowing that they can’t ALL be gems, can they. Sadly, this is where the new Aeternus album Philosopher stands. Now, I’m no student of philosophy, but Epicurus once said ‘The greater the difficulty, the more glory in surmounting it,’ and that’s true of music, if I may extrapolate that quote: an album that surpasses expectations undoubtedly lives in higher regard than one in which a listener had their mind made up ahead of time (i.e., me with a Metallica album). The inverse is true here, so to speak. A blackened death metal band in Aeternus, who have been around the block a few times, releasing new music has a certain level of expectation: unfortunately, this album Philosopher fails to meet virtually any of those expectations, as this is a slog through and through.
Now, when listening to Black Metal or Death Metal, or a combination of both, speed is expected: tremolo riffs, blast beats, double bass, just an overall aural assault that pummels a listener from the word go. And, in a few of those aspects, this album hits: the drumming is sensational, if one dimensional. To be able to keep such a frenetic pace throughout a nearly 40 minute album, almost never once breaking stride, is an impressive feat. The double bass almost never relents, easily the standout for this record, which is both a net positive and negative for this album. To be the standout is undoubtedly a great thing for people that love drumming, which I do, but when it’s virtually the ONLY standout, therein lies the problem. The remainder of the album, outside a handful of moments, is entirely forgettable.
Vocally, while sticking to the standard death growl of blackened death metal, and little else, the album falls completely flat; in virtually every song, the same tone and level of energy is expelled, basically a form of autopilot where it seems as though the performance was simply phoned in. Interestingly enough, coming from a guy that isn’t a fan of strictly instrumentals, this album is markedly more enjoyable when there are no vocals. The riffs have heft, the drumming is technical, precise, a bit more varied. When the vocals kick in, it seems as though the energy is sucked from the remaining instruments, the band incapable of finding a way to have beefy riffs, percussive variety, AND death growls at the same time. Unfortunately, instead of possibly toning down the vocals to focus on the music, they did the inverse: musicality suffers.
A great vocalist can overcome less than stellar music, and vice versa; there’s documented evidence everywhere in music. Sadly, we’ve run into a situation where a great vocalist and a great band apparently couldn’t coexist at the same time, as Philosopher is full of moments that could have been great, should have been great and, quite frankly, were the polar opposite; this band is clearly capable of doing better, and this one can likely just be seen as an aberration. But it’s gonna sting for a bit until they hit us with their next release.
(2 / 5)
