Aenaon
“Hypnosophy”
2016
Hypnosphy is a great name for this album, because it is exactly everything this album portrays. This is a record to end all records.
Everything on this album is EPIC, BEAUTFUL, SURREAL, FUN, and SURPRISING.
This Greek progressive black metal band Aenaon, is such a pleasure to listen to. Not only for their use of instruments you don’t usually hear in metal, but also for their unique song structure and use of atmosphere. Since 2007 this band has been innovative and always pushing the boundaries of black metal into eminence, and we all should be very thankful for that.
Starting with ‘Oneirodynia’, sweet beautiful melodies engulf your ears before shoving you into heavy bewilderment and reverence. The use of the sax from Orestis Zyrinis is enchanting to hear in metal. Syncopated blast-beats and bass pedaling from Nycriz, gives us that little extra push of aggression that is not needed but very welcome. The power, progression and groove you get from all these elements working together in such a beautiful way with the authoritative vocals from Astrous, and guest vocals from Giorgos Papagiannakis make this one of the coolest songs of all time.
‘Fire Walk With Me’ directly follows and is another very capable of kicking your ass kind of song. Vocals are much more pronounced in this track, as it’s a more typical structured track with a catchy and fun chanting chorus to bang your head to.
‘Thus Ocean Swells’ is a magnificent track I feel truly encompasses everything that Aenaon has to offer. Starting you off with cool and groovy jazz riffs and swanky clean vocals, before hitting you with the mighty guttural growls of Astrous, coming for more. Again, the strategic use of horns in this track is well utilized. This track gives you such a tone of murder mystery thrill vibes, submerged in the embrace of evil.
There is such a dark beauty that radiates throughout this album that it is hard not to be captivated by it, if you just let go and let it take you along. My only real issue with this album would be I couldn’t really hear the bass throughout this album. Everyone else has their moments to shine, but that didn’t seem to be the case for the bass this time around.
The best thing about Aenaon is their ability to take so many different elements of metal, jazz, avant-garde and transform it without sounding convoluted. It’s a job many bands take-on but very few ever succeed. Aenaon does it with flying colors.
Tracklist:
1. Oneirodynia
2. Fire Walk with Me
3. Earth Tomb
4. Void
5. Tunnel
6. Thus Ocean Swells
7. Phronesis – Psychomagic
https://www.facebook.com/aenaonofficial
Members:
Achilleas C. – Guitars
Astrous – Vocals
Thyragon – Bass
Anax – Guitars
Orestis Z. – Saxophone
Nycriz – Drums
Rating: 9.5 out of 10
~Lethal Lillian
Aenaon
“Extance”
2014
Greek black metal masters Aenaon are back. After their solid 2011 full-length debut, titled Cenders Et Sang, I felt Aenaon were a creative black metal band with great ideas that weren’t always implemented into their music properly. But still it was a great album that showed Aenaon had the potential to be a super black metal act. 2014 has given us their second full length offering Extance and quite frankly, it’s a flat-out winner. I don’t think I’ll hear a more creative and well-constructed black metal album for the rest of the year. Blending ferocious classic KVLT black metal styles with bluesy rock Aenaon have crafted a unique album that stands out from the blend of copycat metal band today. It elevates itself with a constant evolution and musical development through out the eleven songs. They get the journey started with The First Art. A haunting piano playing a beautiful melody that dissolves into a blend of metal and hard rock hard rock. From there, for about the next hour, Aenaon is going to guide you along a musical voyage that consists of highs, lows. The brilliant playing flows through the music. Songs can swing from vicious and heavy like Deathtrip Chronicle to the slower, jazzier Pornocrates. Always sounding natural and never forced for the sake of trying to be different. They end this journey with the nearly thirteen-minute song Palindrome. A palindrome is a word that is spelled the same forwards and backwards. I can’t help but feel this one epic song almost takes you on the same voyage as the album. Never a dull moment, full of peaks and troughs that pull you in as a listener and keep you guessing what brilliant change Aenaon will make next This is an amazing record that should be heard by all who appreciate extreme metal.
Tracklist:
1. The First Art
2. Deathtrip Chronicle
3. Grau Diva
4. A Treatise on the Madness of God
5. Der Mude Tod
6. Pornocrates
7. Closer to Scaffold
8. Land of No Water
9. Algernon’s Decadence
10. Funeral Blues
11. Palindrome
https://www.facebook.com/aenaonofficial
https://myspace.com/aenaonband
http://www.reverbnation.com/aenaon
https://twitter.com/aenaonband
http://www.youtube.com/user/Aenaonofficial
Members:
Thyragon – Bass
Astrous – Vocals
Achilleas C. – Guitars
Nycriz – Drums
Anax – Guitars
Rating: 9.5 out of 10
~Kris
Aenaon
“ Cenders Et Sang”
2011
The one country in the world that is most associated with the rise of black metal throughout the world is Norway. Although Venom front man and creator of black metal, Cronos Lant, would tell you that those bands have no business calling themselves black metal, the name stuck. Black metal almost became exclusively Norwegian. But, many band from around Europe started popping up to put their own spin on the traditional Norwegian sound. Results have varied over the years, but there have been some stand out bands from all different countries. Now it seems Greece wants in on the action. I have already reviewed one Greek black metal band called Gospel of Grief. I gave their 2010 album Our Symbol is Death a perfect score. Now it is time for their fellow countrymen Aenaon to receive similar praise. Aenaon is a Greek metal band formed in 2005. The bands 2011 Cenders Et Sang is a great record. They may not hit the heights Gospel of Grief hit, but there is enough creativity here with just the right amount of anger and furry. The album starts with, what sounds like a saxophone solo? But as soon as the second song starts, the music becomes familiar. Astrous is an excellent black metal vocalist. He can change things up and sing clean when he needs to, but his real strength is in the harsh, pissed off delivery of his raspy vox. The band proves they can change musical sound and direction with perfect accuracy. They can jump from a very emotion heavy traditional black metal sound to an upbeat, but still somber jazzy sound. There is a lot of variety on this record and the band pulls it off flawlessly. You feel every riff, every note means something, I would call this progressive black metal. The final track titled In Heaven is a cover/re imagining of a song from David Lynch’s 1977 cult film Eraserhead. It is just incredible. It starts with a haunting piano intro with a woman’s beautiful voice singing a wordless melody over top, then adds fury, then slows things back down again. To me, this is the best song on the album. Aenaon has done well to create a very unique experience here. The band has made a killer debut. If they use this structure with a little more focus in years to come, Aenaon could make something legendary. But for right now, Cenders Et Sang is a different, creative, if slightly flawed masterpiece.
Tracklist:
1. Kafkaesque
2. Suncord
3. Psychonautic Odyssey
4. Grand Narcotic Harvest
5. Once Finite
6. Carnivora’s Lair
7. Necroscope
8. Krannerg
9. Black Nerve
10. In Heaven
https://www.facebook.com/aenaonofficial
Members:
Astrous – Vocals
Achilleas C. – Guitars
Thyragon – Bass
Dagwn – Guitars
Nycriz – Drums
Rating: 8.5 out of 10
~Kris