Aeon – Rise To Dominate
Metal Blade – 3984-14635-2P – 10 September 2007
by John Norby
Sweden’s
Aeon are certainly not attempting to reinvent the death metal wheels of steel with
Rise To Dominate, having output a 45-minute, by-the-numbers deathcharge that doesn’t stray very far from the formula used by a plethora of bands that have come before them. That said, death metal is one of those genres that – even when executed following the rules set out by the extreme metal trading standards committee – can sound both devastating and exciting, and
Aeon have this one pulled off to perfection.
Rise To Dominate is pretty much tech as hell from start to finish, touching on the styles used by the likes of
Cannibal Corpse,
Necrophagist and
Vital Remains, to name a few.
’Caressed By The Holy Man’ is so close to being a fusion of Morbid Angel’s
’Where The Slime Live’ and
’Caesar’s Palace’ in places that it’s debatable as to whether or not this would sound better as a bonus track on
Domination. That’s not really a criticism, though, as it’s a skull-crusher of a tune.
There’s little in the way of variation on this album, although there are plenty of tempo changes and heavy-groove sections to get the head going now and again. There are constant references to bands and albums both past and present, with a worrying amount of riffs triggering the thought, “Jeez, that’s the part off such-and-such’s whatever album.” Anyone spot the
Suffocation worship on
’There Will Be No Heaven For Me’, by the way?
An album that’ll please those death metal fans who love a quality slab of brutality but don’t mind the fact that they’ve heard most of it before.
Official Aeon Website
Official Aeon Myspace
Official Metal Blade Website
