Aeon | ‘Path Of Fire’

It’s incredible what even vaguely proficient DM bands can do these days. With young drummers schooled on the likes of Kolias and Roddy, they’re so pummelling that it’s hard to assess what actually makes real heaviness anymore.

Aeon have all the proficiencies expected of a hot, up to the minute DM act, but then again, they always did. And they are certainly heavy.

Like their previous efforts, this one’s filled with impossibly fast double bass rumbles and peppered like crazy with pinch harmonics. It’s not for the weak.

You can hear that they’ve upped their game, audibly grasping for the same calibre of tone and attack as big hitters Nile and Behemoth – both of whom they’ve drawn liberally from on this. Small wonder they’ve ended up on Metal Blade.

Though there’s much in here that leans toward the more uncompromising and inaccessible style of Exmortem, overall they’ve been astute in matching their technical prowess to some catchy riffs. In that regard, fans of the modern Deicide records may also find interest in this.

The trouble, as usual, is a lack of variety. Once the wow factor has evaporated from their shit-hot gear workout, it becomes apparent that nice spanish instrumental notwithstanding, there’s a maximum of one guitar tone across the whole thing.

There should have been more of the evocative Hoffman style solos – as it stands, there’s one or two.

It’s also especially poor in the lyrical department. On your knees, I am king, the usual balls. It’s really cringe inducing, rendering what could have been a great platform for serious diatribe into a sort of sub Hate Eternal sweat fest.

So that’s a bit of a bummer, and something that long term just takes away from the album. These guys are great players, and obviously high attainers within their field. Frankly though I’d rather hear a slightly less able band play more interesting and relevant songs – as cool as some of this most definitely is.

There’s a reason Immolation are so cool. Ponder it.

3.2/5 – Earl Grey ::: 28/07/10