Neaera – All Is Dust
Release Date: 28thJune 2024
Label: Metal Blade
Bandcamp
Genre: Melodic Death Metal, Metalcore.
FFO: Dark Tranquility, Heaven Shall Burn, At The Gates, Caliban.
Review By: Jeff Finch
Melodic Death Metal. Germany. Maybe not the first country you’d think of for this, but certainly one of the countries any metal head would have spring to mind when discussing excellent metal releases. Today’s focus, Neaera, are a band with which I was unaware up until very recently; if you’re like me in this capacity, this review is for you, because the level of quality coming from the speakers when these guys jam is so good, one would swear they were ripped right from the Swedish ranks.
What stands out to me most about this record, and likely the band’s entire discography (a rabbit hole awaiting me), is the way that everything comes together to create a punishing sonic soundscape: layered screams, beefy riffs, hellaciously vicious shrieks, all of this hammers us mercilessly on our opener Antidote to Faith. Double bass takes us on a wild ride throughout, the random bursts of blast beats demonstrative of a band with impeccable transitional capabilities, listeners barely noticing that anything has changed before the band has started on another section entirely. Transitions can be jarring, these are smooth as silk, all the more impactful by the fact that the vocals on this are spit with venom, the perpetual layering so menacing, charged, and bursting forth with ire.
Pacifier, meanwhile, hammers us with military drumming and riffing immediately upon hitting play, the frenetic pace never once relenting, the continued layering effect perpetuating that wall of demonic noise spewing forth. Intensity is the name of the game for this one, made all the more obvious when a tapping solo cuts through the maelstrom, leading into a brief breakdown reminiscent, in spots, of Domination by Pantera, somehow adding more heft to an already perilously massive track.
Title track All is Dust is rife with blast beats and double bass, complementing the excellent low growls in the pre-chorus, as the chorus itself finds the band slowing the pace to a comparative crawl, riffs and atmosphere leading listeners into the main groove of pummeling double bass, while the guitar focuses on those elongated riffs, slow and steady versus fast-paced and frantic. The shrieks we’re hit with later in the track are tortured, pained, feeling hopeless and isolated, with the blast beats the only part the listener can hear otherwise.
Standout track In Vain does a masterful job of creating a deeply despondent, resigned atmosphere from the opening notes, guitar acting in solitude until the drums come into play, restrained in the playing but powerfully loud in the context of the song. Feedback briefly comes into the mix, indicative of a sonic shift that sees the guitar tone transform from a simple clean lead to a mammoth, beefy riff, the drums still somewhat restrained, the main focus on the shifting tone of the lead guitar and the tortured screams of our vocalist. The transition into a slightly more frantic, harrowing lead keeps the hopelessness front and center, the rumbling bass absolutely filthy, as the song shifts into a ‘chorus’ of sorts, possibly one of the catchiest moments on the entire album, the complete antithesis to the rest of the song, the layered vocals all the more intensely labored and pained. The pure melody gushing from the lead guitar, placed much higher in the mix than the vocals, allows the song to shift its overall tone a bit, before the final minute sees the group try and offset the tortured cries of ‘in vain’ with a bit of an upbeat rhythm.
Quite frankly, the band fires on nearly all cylinders during the course of this record; as previously mentioned, their transitional mastery is off the charts; the thrashy melodeath of Swords Unsheathed is a perfect example, as they switch to a more frantic pace and sound, guitars hitting higher notes, almost a warning cry, the vocalist shifting from high shrieks to low growls to a blegh(!), the atmosphere and dissonant melodies are simply captivating and indicative of a band with the technical prowess to match the pure ferocity on display.
And it’s that simultaneous musicality that makes this band so enthralling; able to mercilessly beat its listeners into a pulp with unfettered fury while also being able to generate such atmospheric soundscapes, often transitioning from one to another in the course of a single track, never a one-trick pony, never resting on their laurels or the expectations of standard Melodeath. Sure, the very term includes the word melody/melodic, but as anyone that’s a fan of the genre would attest, some bands just pull it off better than others. Neaera is among those ‘some bands.’ 
(4.5 / 5)
