Shadowpath – The Aeon Discordance
Release Date: 10th March 2024
Label: Self Released
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Genre: Melodic Progressive Death Metal, Symphonic Metal.
FFO: Winters Eve, Tylangir, Boiling Blood, Lankester Merrin, Basement Prophecy, Thola.
Review By: Mark Waight
The Aeon of Discordance is the long awaited and eagerly anticipated follow up to Shadowpath’s 2017 debut album, Rumours of a Coming Dawn. Shadowpath are a Switzerland based Melodic Progressive Death Metal band with an exciting ability to also explore a very diverse range of other musical styles within their music and The Aeon of Discordance is certainly testament to that.
Shadowpath is Samuel Baumann (drums & percussion), James Pankhurst (guitars, bass, backing vocals), Philipp Bohny (Keyboards, Growl, additional vocals) and Simone Christina (lead vocals).
At over 15 minutes long The Lifeline Economist is a brave and epic opening track that plays out beautifully. It’s like listening to a story, a play, and a musical all in one whilst still having plenty of the metal we all love to keep the purists fully entertained. For me this is a huge song that I really enjoyed from start to finish and any description I could give you wouldn’t fully do it justice, so check it out for yourself. You won’t hear many bigger openings to any album this year, and this shouts out loud we are Shadowpath and this is what we can do!!
Outside the Tetrahedron was the first song off the album to be released as a single and the first one to grab my attention. It’s an alchemic cocktail of brutal and angelic vocals fused with hard hitting riffs and folk/symphonic elements that is very hard to resist.
Also released as a single and next up, Unwounded we Bleed is a slightly softer and gentler song, although the dark brutal side is never too far away. The guitar playing throughout is divine and well worth a mention as we are treated to some stand out and ultra cool axe work by James Pankhurst.
Exactly as described, A Coming Storm picks up the power slowly and builds it up as it approaches before leaving havoc and chaos in its wake. Simone Christina’s vocals are just so sweet and adoringly lovely, plus they work perfectly as an opposite force to the dark and brutal side of Philipp Bohny!
Reveries in Blue is a short lesson in fine guitar work before the dreamy ballad Homecoming (sleepy lies the forest) takes us on a delicious and sorrow filled journey with occasional moments of pure blackness and the weeping of the strings pulling at the fabric of your heart in this very moving song.
The pace hots up with Eyes of our brothers, a more staple metal tune with plenty of that potent power which really packs a solid punch. A good, solid tune with some pulsating percussion from Samuel Baumann that absolutely rocks.
Demons Within is another big song but with a big difference this time. This is classic metal with a thumping bass, heavy hammer opening and a hauntingly gothic thread. You must roll with the punches on this one as you are treated to a tight performance in which Shadowpath show off all their knowledge, skill, and guile. This is the one the metalheads will love!
At the End of it all we reach the final track of The Aeon Discordance, and we are played out by a stunningly beautiful piano/vocal performance to bring us back down with a feathered landing. Nice finish.
I think The Aeon Discordance has been well worth the seven years wait as Shadowpath have certainly honed their craft with this very cool new release and with it delivered a quality album. There is certainly something here that all Metal fans will love, and a couple of real crackers if you like something a bit more epic for your listening pleasure.
(4 / 5)
