It's a review written while listening to the album on Youtube, keep that in mind.
Well Martin is back with his music after 3 long years. In this time he managed to get a whole band, with a sexy vocalist, lyrics and still wearing the same tshirt. I hope he washed it since the recording of his EP.
Unstoppable opens the album, I already covered it on this blog- it's a good track, with rich riffing and similar background sounds, while enriched with drums, bass and vocals. Since vocals are still a big mystery for me I won't say anything now and wait how they turn out in the next tracks.
Sisyphus' Bliss is a much faster track, and basically exactly what I was waiting for.
I was hoping to see how the vocals can deal with a faster track and I'm a little bit disappointed, during the faster growls Marion seems to have problem putting much power into vocals, especially during the end of a verse. Her vocals can easily go along with medium tempo tracks, but here I wish to see even more energy put into vocals, while I see less. Nothing impossible to fix though, and I have to say that lyrics here are very impressive, not only the go very well with the complex melody, they follow the subject perfectly and have some good, memorable hooks. Also Marion is growling very clearly, it's very possible to understand the lyrics by ear.
The music here is just a treat, not only complex style of writing is always the most noticable and rewarding in fast tracks, but the riffs are catchy as fuck and definitely at this point my favourite ones from Aephanemer. Background is also solid, drummer is fucking smashing the kit to pieces and I don't really hear the bass here (Youtube's fault probably). Solo didn't blew me away, but it had a nice little pause of the background in the beginning, the outro is also done very well.
But first of all, let's trick the fate
And devote to chasing new baits
As we escape across the void
Let's reshape what's already spoiled
Hellebore (ok, titles on this album are definitely interesting) starts with a guitar solo, and then goes into another fast track, but changes tempo so many times that I don't care anymore :D
Vocals here are still varied in quality, the beginning of the song doesn't impress me, but the slower parts in the middle have some good power and emotion behind it. Maybe that's the problem here, so far many vocals are sung in the same "mysterious evil explanation" way, maybe some more strong emotions in certain tracks would make the vocals more solid? I remember vocals in Titanium's "Here and Now" being very aggressive, which made them stand out from the rest of the vocals. In melodic death metal it might be harder, as growling isn't as easy to control as clean singing, but it's a debut album- see what works, what doesn't and second album will blow up the Earth :D Impact is already made by the great songwriting, and the reception is so far very positive. Which I shouldn't be talking about in a review, but who cares, my blog- my rules.
It's a long, complex track with good lyrics. It's a bit stretched-out in a few parts, the placement on the album is also kinda weird to me. It also didn't make me cum like the last track did, but maybe it's because I've been reviewing this track for 30 minutes now and many people are bothering me during the review -_-
Next we have The Oathsworn, which already starts in a interesting way, slow guitar brings a lot of emotion to the track before the other instruments join. It's another good one here, again at first vocals seem to follow the standard pattern, where I wish there were some screams, but surprise-surprise! Clean vocals are here, and they are quite good, just before the growls return this time with some decent screams, longer sounds. In the end we have some faster singing. So basically from the vocal side this is so far the best track. Lyrics are good, and I must say that the vocabulary on this album is on point, even if sometimes I think it's overcomplicated for no good reason.
I don't need to add anything about the song structure, composition and instruments behind it (actually I forgot to mention that drum patterns are on point on the album so far, not only powerful but interesting), Martin did his homework, and those silent 3 years paid off in some very good ideas and songs. It's really hard for me to find something that doesn't work here, in previous tracks I was like "ok, this part could be 2-4 seconds shorter, but not bad". Maybe this year Jouni beat him with his monster track Bloodred Shores Of Enoshima, but I expect Martin to write something like that or even better in the upcoming years :) Soft outro deserves a mention here, works very well with a similar soft intro.
Ghosts are an instrumental break, well placed on the album before we go into Sorrow And Hate...
Rage and Forgiveness, my bad. Medium fast track with some good headbanging riffs. Pretty standard vocals at this point, they go well along with the track, have some emotions behind them, the chorus is good so I shut up. Lyrics are very interesting, with some pirate vibe to it (even though it's about the assault on the Troy). Martin has some fun during the solo with his guitar, I will ignore that- it's his debut album, kid gotta have some fun with it :D
Again, can't say a bad thing about the structure and general sound- this song is another reason why I liked Aephanemer in 2013 and why I do now. It's more of the same sound, but more complex, richer, longer. Another reason to further support the band, I wanna see them evolve even further.
The Call of the Wild is next, it was online for some time but I don't think I wrote a review. Now compared to the rest of the album I appreciate the track much more. First of all vocals are full of emotion here, compared to tracks before it, clean vocals also sound very well as they stay attached to the melody. The pirate vibe to it works well with the previous track, the music on the album has a lot of tempo changes and other ideas, so 2 tracks with the same feel to it help the listener to stay on track. There are no distraction in the sound, and even though there are some changes in tempo, piano part in the middle and clean vocals it's still very easy to keep track of the song. Stuff like that also takes skill during the songwriting, a lot of different progressive songs on one cd can be pretty tiring on the first listen, and this album is very balanced so far.
(Song of the Blackest) Crows start slow and soft, before Insomnium's trademark riff joins. Vocals here are very good, lots of emotion put into them. Funny, it's just like during my review they took notes and fixed the vocals in the later songs :D We get a first scream, but it fades in comparison with the later "Shape-shifting" one, it's quite impressive.
Ye ye the music behind it is great, can't find something that doesn't work, kinda boring that it's so good. Let's be honest- I knew in advance that I will like the instrumental stuff on the album, I was mostly concerned about the vocals, adding them to complex songs and lyrics. So far it's better than I expected, with still some place for improvement in the future.
That being said we jump into a title track, Memento Mori. This is some serious business here, it sounds like the whole band was extra careful during making this one. Vocals are on point, with some clean surprises, there is no playing with the instruments and solos, the sound is very mature and Insomnium-like
How unworthy our concerns are
Tempers, pledges and desires
As bodies buried, nothing lasts
This is where the sad truth lies
the solo behind this part is on fucking point, and if anyone says that the riffing behind it is stretched-out then fuck this guy, on this track it fits. The outro is very good, with some polished lyrics to boot, hell of a ride.
Why is it a song about the death that makes me feel so alive?
Gilgamesh is the last one on the album, instrumental, long journey on a guitar. If it was another guitarist I would say it's for showing off, but Martin the Riffcrafter just wants to tell a story without lyrics this time, something that he did well on his EP. It's long, it's interesting, and doesn't remind me of any other band. It's a french silver wolf Aephanemer, finishing their debut album.
And I have to say, as far as debuts go it's definitely one of the best ones in the recent years. It clearly shows the band's strongest points- songwriting and originality in already defined subgenre.
Sometimes it may sound like Insomnium, but in no way you can call it a clone of it. The drums, bass and background greatly help to make it sound original. While the bass will take some time for me to dig up (especially from a Youtube video), the drums are on point all the time. They smash hard, but aren't dominant in sound, also much less extreme than Whispered's "double bass all the time" style of playing, which is a good thing here, the music is soft as far as the subgenre goes, and more extreme drums wouldn't fit as well as these do.
I was very concerned about the vocals, but they passed my test. There are moments where I would love to here some more diversity or power behind them, but the second half of the album really sounds better in that regard.
But the sound wasn't as important, it's blending those vocals to a complex and everchanging riffing, also getting the lyrics done well and fitting to the sound, and here I have nothing bad to say. Lyrics are better than any that I would write myself, they fit the style, vocabulary is rich and it all works pretty well.
I didn't say a word about the mixing before, surprising, because it's on point. They got the right guy behind the wheel and the final sound is just great, not a single element sounded bad, too loud or too silent. Bravo!
The songwriting is just amazing, Martin mastered the medium tempo and medium-fast melodeath songs. The placement of the tracks is solid, opening of the album is good and the outro tracks is just outstanding.
After the listening I wished to see something totally different, like a ballad (in a style of "One for Sorrow" perhaps?) or a super fast track, Kalmah style. But it's not a flaw, just my stupid hopes, no song on the album feels like it's there only to make the album longer.
So, Aephanemer- well done. You guys (and a lady) released a debut melodic death metal album in a year where Omnium Gatherum, Insomnium and Whispered released their new material. And Your stuff still sounds great, even when compared to these monster bands. Makes me feel proud, I did well when I started supporting this project years ago.
And the best part? There is still room for improvement, I know You can do even better than that, and I can't wait to hear more in the future. Now have a drink, stop memento moring for a second and carpe diem the shit out of this bottle of wine :D
Summary:
Guitars: 11/10
Drums: 10/10
Bass: Youtube/10
Vocals: 7+/10
Additional stuff:
+++ adding vocals to instrumental stuff done very well, it was worth taking the risk
++ solid debut
++ fucking great mixing
+ good lyrics, nice themes
+ it takes balls to release an album when Insomnium does theirs
+ cool cover art
+ good running time
+ nice song placement
+ clean vocals deserve something
- one minus just because I hate France :D (and I gave too many pluses)
Final score: Baguette
134%
Oh, Martin, feel free to jump in as my 6th favourite guitarist, just behind Gunsen. I know he stinks a bit, but what You're gonna do?
music video here
full album here
LEAKED!! NEXT AEPHANEMER ALBUM CONFIRMED TO BE CALLED "PANDA RHEI", COVER ART BELOW!
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