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Band: Aeon Sable
Album title: Hypaerion
Release date: 11 March 2016
Label: Solar Lodge
Tracklist:
01. … Hypaerion
02. Elysion
03. Laylah
04. Garden Of Light
05. Of Cats And Mice
06. White Snow
07. Procession …
"I wander around
In the darkness of the night
I shall push on
Through the secrets of light"
After four creations packed in black, the German most transcendental and genre bending dark rock masters Aeon Sable decided to make white as the new black! Two dark minded artists behind the name Aeon Sable, Nino Sable and Din-Tah Aeon, returns a bit more than one year after their ultimate masterpiece, Visionaers, an album that made many fans of dark music ask if it's possible to go further from there, with a new offering that must be a culmination of everything taged as dark rock, its name is Hypaerion.
Aeon Sable are since their beginning in 2010 on a mission to explore new limits of melancholic and dark atmospheric post-goth rock, it's a rarity to find such a band on this planet right now that could be able to provoke so highly luminous and mind seducing soundscapes, they go beyond the borders of what was once known as gothic rock, even though in its essence they remain loyal to the legacy of goth and some of the things have its origin in the sound long ago created by The Sisters Of Mercy and Fields Of The Nephilim. I can easily say that without bands like are Aeon Sable this genre would be in stagnation, almost dead or at least it will remain asleep in the 80s tradition. So, it's true that when I talk about gothic rock as an association to their music I'm a bit unfair, as there's a completely new dimension of sound to be found, Aeon Sable's influences must be varied and also those of you who are into harsher sounds or like vast atmospheric soundscapes, also modern doom metal, metalgaze, dark wave, post-rock, a bit of psychedelia and cold wave should find something for themselves while listening to any of Aeon Sable's album, but it's with Hypaerion where they are reaching the heights and culmination of their artistic vision for now.
Hypaerion is a dark sonic adventure consisting of seven divergent tracks and like on all of their albums so far there's also a hidden track. I can easily say that the singer Nino has polished up perfectly his deep, gently thick velvet voice into something that is a pure joy listening to, not only his singing tone is warm, it's emotional, gentle and tender, but on several occasions also harsh and so violent that many metal singers would be proud of it. Din-Tah is a guitar master when it comes to soothing guitar riffs, there's nothing to add, and while the main guitar lines might sound simple, there's not to be found any kind of technical guitar exaggeration, except for some magical leads, instead everything is well compressed, smooth, it seems so simple, but on the other hand also vibrant and lucid. All this is backened up with gloomy synths and a bit of electronics, with great drum beats and reverberate bass lines keeping the line, everything put together into such a fluent, yet rich and very dense sound with quite a lot of flamboyant catchy melodies all over.
I don't think that I've heard in recent times such a strong and dark introduction to any album like it's the title track, its evocative, kind of a cold ambiance simply engulfs you into the world of melancholy, occultism, magick, dark romantics and your mind will be floating high with those dark themed suspenseful highly addictive soundscapes that in the last part have something in common with Garden Of Delight and Merciful Nuns. On Hypaerion you won't find instant hits like were "Dancefloor Satellite", "Tenfifteen" or "Visions", the closests thing to that is "Elysion", with its sparkly typical goth rock riff, but the drive is different, there is more darkness implemented into it, that's also well heard on the next one, hypnotically danceable "Laylah", where playful vibe is extremely well blended with melancholic vocals and kind of a perverse dark beat. Then, if you ever wondered how it might sound a copulation of The Sisters Of Mercy and Tiamat just give a listen to the rather upbeat, yet very dramatic and emotive "Garden Of Light", all the best elements you can find in dark rock and atmospheric dark/post metal are right there!
The second half of Hypaerion is a bit more soothing, even more melancholic, offering the darkest creations ever released by this band, it embraces with three epic dark compositions to finish this masterpiece. "Of Cats And Mice" in a strange way seems to be a continuation of the glorious "Praying Mantis" from Saturn Return. In this one Nino sings in a duet with Aeleth Kaven (La Scaltra, One Mind Ministry,...) and together they form a very nice male/female vocal pair. "White Snow" continues in similar style, but in here Aeon Sable came forth with even more of a dark atmosphere and suspense into the overall dramatic composition. If that's all the gloom and magick you can bear then don't even try with more than ten minutes long ultimate epic masterpiece "Procession". It's doom, gloom and goth creation that goes beyond anything Aeon Sable did so far, just listen to second half of the track, it's so dense, slow-paced turbulent vertigo of dark emotions, with maybe the heaviest guitar riff this band ever recorded, a real testimony of a band in its creative peak. Last three minutes in here are reserved for something hidden, but that's up to you for discover.
Aeon Sable once again only testify what we lovers of dark music already knew, that they are maybe the most creative and credible force of the genre out there. I find it very strange that this band is still flattering in the underground, they are certainly worth much more and it's a shame that they don't became recognized as the driving force of the scene known as gothic rock. They are bringers of a new era, this isn't anymore the third wave of gothic rock, this is something completely new, this is Hypaerion, this is Aeon Sable.
"And then there's silence
A ringing in our ears
And then there's silence
We see the moving of our will"
Review written by: T.V.
Rating: 10/10
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