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Aeon > Rise to Dominate > Reviews
Aeon - Rise to Dominate

A little better but still flawed. - 54%

6CORPSE6GRINDER6, December 27th, 2012

Aeon’s second lp features a slight improvement in the songwriting, which seems to be more meaningful this time without being innovative in anyway or even creative and flows better. The band sounds way looser than in the rigid and strictly mechanic past 2 offerings. It’s still generic, but at least it gets closer to being enjoyable with that hint of inspiration. The leads are more memorable and the fast parts that usually were the worst now feature some interesting riffs as well. The lyrics are kind of childish and superficial, like the sound of the band, but you can swallow them.

The vocals are pretty much the same pair of tracks, one guttural and other one in a black metal fashion that features raspy, high-pitched shrieks. Guitars sound heavier this time and their repertoire of sweep picking and pinched harmonics goes through a crude distortion that lifts them up a bit. More vivid and realistic, strings sound heavier and more aggressive this time. The same happens with the bass guitar, which is a lot more present even if it has the same tone it had on the preceding records. The clanky metallic tone is supported by a wider layer of mid-lows and lows so that the whole band has a surrounding sound.

The drums are delivered to keep the pace and nothing more. They sound solid and compelling, but that’s it. The drumming isn’t creative as the fills are dropped senselessly at the end of the squared time metrics as in a recipe. This is the main issue with this band, how repetitive and generic they are. This time the production of the album is better, improving the band’s sound and composition-wise they got a little better, but they are still boring. I would still check their rest of their material, and for some strange reason I have faith in them. Hehe.

Crush them all with Jesus they bleed! - 85%

BisonWeapon, November 24th, 2009

Filled with anger, malice, and rage Aeon spews fourth infernal litany in opposition to Christianity. With anti-christian death metal anthems, Rise to Dominate picks up where Deicide left off (which was somewhere around Serpents of the Light). Not saying that this cd sounds like Deicide, but the message is the same. Anti-Christian metal is nothing new, but it definitely has its place for any serious metal genre.

Rise to Dominate offers the listener "generic" death metal with technical elements. Crushing guitar riffs, intense blasts, and technical bridges/solos embody the majority of the songs on this album; which is why many people don't find this release intriguing. There is nothing wrong with "generic" death metal as long as it's done right, and Aeon hit the nail on the head.

The music is not why I find myself consistently listening this cd, though it does help that it is good. It is the vocals of Tommy Dahlstrom, his mid range "power growls" have diction and are very discernible. With comparison to Glen Benton on Serpents there is a message here and he wants you to hear it! The songs through out this album have a catchy chorus with very memorable qualities. Each song fells like an anthem of independence and free thinking, and they are memorable like one.

Though I did not focus on the musical part of this release, it is not to be overlooked. There is everything a death metal fan should want from a band. Kick ass drumming and brutal/technical riffs are all on par with anything else that is on the market. So if you want to belt out some Christian hating death metal, look no further.

Kick ass tracks: Spreading Their Disease, Living Sin, There Will Be Heaven For Me

After 8 years, they finally rise! - 73%

Asamaniac, October 16th, 2008

Here is an album from a band I didn’t know. Basically I knew a Swedish band by the name AEON, but that band featured Spice in its line up and was a Stoner/Groove Metal band, not a Death Metal one! Anyway, AEON surely did surprise me with their brutality and with the members their line up consists of! I am sure that many deathsters will like this album (and I hope my review, too!).

Swedish metallers AEON carry 8 years of history on their backs, and adding that the band’s members play in bands like DEFACED CREATION, DIABOLICUM and THE EQUINOX OV THE GODS (their new album kicks major ass!) you can obviously see that we are not dealing with some amateur lads here. "Rise To Dominate" is the band’s second full-length album and I am here to review their brutal assault.

Even though AEON hail from beautiful Sweden, they have chosen to play Death Metal as US bands like MORTICIAN, SUFFOCATION, CANNIBAL CORPSE and DEICIDE have played. Their music is incredibly brutal and features the "necessary" amount of melody and technique so as not to make you get bored or something like that. They have avoided sounding too melodic or too technical. The vocals are really nice and the guitar work that Dlimi has "created" is more than just good. Fjellstrom’s drumming is awesome, offering brutality as well as groove to the already great Death Metal compositions. One more thing that makes "Rise To Dominate" really nice is the great production, which was done by the high and mighty Dan Swano at Unisound Studios.

AEON’s raw sound is not something that will change your life, but it will be a more than good addition to your Death Metal collection. And don’t let the fact that they belong to Metal Blade make you create a negative opinion on the band. Let’s not forget that their debut album "Bleeding The False" was released through the underground "cult" Death Metal label Unique Leader.

Originally written for Metal-Temple.Com
Yiannis D.

Living Sin - 95%

Lunar_Strain, February 3rd, 2008

I first heard Aeon when I picked up their "Dark Order" EP a few months back. The EP itself was alright, but it kept me in high hopes to pick up an album of theirs. Recently, I came across their latest endeavor, titled "Rise To Dominate". An interesting title, with artwork that left much to be desired for a Brutal Death Metal band, but upon listening to the CD, I was instantly reprimanded for doubting the release.

Aeon have successfully managed to capture the essence of Brutality on this album, with crunching guitar riffs that pound through every track (Not to mention a killer tone, to boot!). The songs are, indeed, somewhat resemblant of one another, but the album does not get boring in anyway. It's as if every song feeds off the other, building up for the next track.

Now, the guitars have been mentioned, but lets on to the bass.. there's a hint of bass in the backround, adding to the heavy tone of both the drums and the guitar, but as far as I can tell, I don't hear it so often. It has been effectively layered into the backround, and it does it's job, but I would have liked to have heard it more distinctly, because I'm unable to make out any riffs or notes being played.

Drumwise, this album is killer. Nils Fjellström does an impressive job, with quick feet, wrists and nice set of triggers (The pedals do sound trig'd). Now, with Brutal Death, Gravity Blasts come to mind, but Aeon doesn't seem to incorporate them here. The Blast beats are still fast and very aggressive, but there is no double time or snare abuse here.

Tommy Dahlstrom is an amazing vocalist, and while this is a death Metal album, his gutterals are not very low, staying in the middle between High and Low. He does give us the occasional High-Low combination (Something very common on the afore mentioned Dark Order EP), and a rare, but well performed High scream, but the majority of the vocals are generic.

This album has it's few flaws (Few being a key word here), but it's fast, it's brutal, it's fucking Aeon. Highly recommended, and as a fellow reviewer said, You're a Christian if you don't pick this up.

Generic Like A Bitch - 20%

GuntherTheUndying, November 2nd, 2007

As a metalhead, there have been situations when a certain group or release is like the sun: everything mindlessly revolves around it. And sure enough, all the hype the subject gathered was just a bucket of feces because of the inability to live up to any press, much like Aeon. Formed by a group of crazy Swedes, Aeon has been hailed as the frontrunners in death metal due to their sheer brutality. Intrigued by this label, I bought Aeon’s “Rise to Dominate” with the expectations of a revolutionary band, but that wasn’t the case, because this is as generic and boring as death metal can get.

There’s just one specific idea hovering over Aeon and their second record: be brutal, and nothing else. Of course, this pseudo-ideology is predictably applied by simple riffs, relentless blastbeats, and low growls; however, this is the only musical front on “Rise to Dominate.” Really, the brutalized scene is cool at first, but the redundancy soon kicks in and hurts like a bitch. It’s a lot like Cannibal Corpse, but with mindless blastbeats, constant repetition, and twelve tracks that all sound the same; quite an irritating experience.

Still, Aeon’s image as an over-the-top Satanism squad acts as a deadly toxin that slowly drags the suffering effort into the grave. During his failed attempts to sound like a real growler, vocalist Tommy Dahlström spits out a collection of stupid and adolescent-like lyrics focusing around killing Jesus, but with no poetic attempt at all. Honestly, it’s just a total abomination throughout; definitely the most childish stuff anyone could imagine. Now add the stupid Satanic image with Aeon’s musical clichés, and you have one terrible release not worth a second of anyone’s time.

So yea, “Rise to Dominate” is basically the rehashed spiel of generic death metal you’d expect from any second-rate group, and not living up to any hype in the mean time. There certainly isn’t a problem with being brutal as fuck, but it becomes an issue when that’s all there is to a band’s music, hence Aeon’s one-dimensional stance on metal. Death metal fans will definitely be able to function without “Rise to Dominate,” and most will probably be glad they bought something else instead of Aeon’s sophomore slump.

Not too bad, but "Bleeding The False" was better - 75%

MrVJ, September 18th, 2007

"Aeon have quickly become one of the modern powerhouses of Swedish death metal, combusting heads with their technical guitar riffs, intense and speedy drumming with growls that make nuns shit themselves. Each member plays an intricate part in the death metal stampede and play with unadulterated hatred and power that most of us can only dream of. With such intense and wonderful releases with “Dark Order” EP and “Bleeding The False” we should've all known that Aeon would be a band to watch out for.

“Dark Order” and “Bleeding The False” were showcases for what Aeon was certainly capable of, taking us all by surprise, and here comes their latest release, “Rise To Dominate”, their first release on the newly acquired contract from Metal Blade records. What does “Rise To Dominate” have that their other two releases didn't have? Well, at first I realized that the riffs weren't nearly as complex or technical as they used to be, sort of toning down their brutality as well. The drums also weren't nearly as fast, again toning down their brutality. However, that isn't to say that the songs on this album are boring as hell, because they aren't. The brutality may have been toned down, but what we have here is still Aeon; the fast and heavy riffs, unintentionally hilarious lyrics and song titles, and Tommy Dahlström (ex-Defaced Creation, ex-Diabolicum), who has to be one of my favorite growlers today.

Each song has their own little structure with the usual chugging riffs, but things quickly turn chaotic once Tommy joins the fold, and somehow the rest of the band just turns into evil incarnate. Daniel Dlimi (ex-Divine Desecration, ex-Sanctification, Souldrainer) and Zeb Nilsson (ex-Defaced Creation, ex-Diabolicum) certainly know their way around a guitar, getting you to nod along with the riffs and then unleash your own personal hell when the solos come by. Nils Fjellström (Dark Funeral, Chastisement, Sanctification) has always been an excellent drummer, pummeling you with thousands and blastbeats and feet that would rival Reno Killerich. He was really the one to watch out for on “Bleeding The False”, and his drum work was incredibly tight, but as I mentioned before, it almost seems like he slowed it down, which doesn't make me very happy.

I also spoke of the unintentional hilarity that this band seems to unleash in death metal. Their song titles just set you up for the punchline. It's titles like “Caressed By The Holy Man”, “Biblewhore”, “God Gives Head In Heaven”, and “Doorknocker” that really gives you the feeling that these guys aren't exactly practicing Christians. Certainly quite the opposite, as you will hear Tommy proudly proclaim the ruler of the world to be Satan and how God is totally queer. Not to mention the hilarious lyrics about megachurchs and such on “House Of Greed”:

“So big and beautiful
But through my eyes a pile of filth
Why should I
Pay for nothing I use
I did not ask for it to be built

Never will I put money in the
Collectors plate
As I see it we don't need this
House of greed”

I don't know why, but that portion of the song always seems to kill me. It's great song musically, but lyrically it's one big joke, yet somehow it doesn't detract from the rest of the song.

“Rise To Dominate”is exactly what you'd expect from Aeon, albeit a little slower than I'd like, but it's still a very good album. All the makings of a great successor to “Bleeding The False” is right here, but as I keep saying, I wish they didn't slow it the fuck down! Come on Aeon, show us all what you're really capable of and make your future music faster."

Originally written for Metal Stomp.com

It's fucking Aeon, what do you expect? - 90%

Noktorn, September 13th, 2007

2005's 'Bleeding The False' was, to be very blunt about it, awesome. I often described it to my friends as 'Deicide times a thousand': it was that band's fast, brutal delivery taken to an extreme that I hadn't even thought possible. That album was traditional death metal overdriven to an insane degree, with a level of utterly single-minded brutality present that I'd never heard before anywhere else. Above and beyond merely being brutal, it had another, less common quality about it. 'Bleeding The False' felt like it was a sort of Satanic war march: an attack on the listener, if you will, with everything always going a thousand miles an hour, with neverending rivers of blast beats and tremolo riffs dominating the majority of the music. It was, as direct and fairly one-dimensional as it was, absolutely great.

Two years later and Aeon has returned with their sophomore LP, 'Rise To Dominate'. It's still brutal. It's still fast. It's still absurdly anti-Christian. But now it's a lot more multidimensional than the previous album was: there's a great deal more tempo changes, rhythmic and melodic variation, and a general sense that the band has become more complex as a whole in the time between the last album and this one. Tracks like 'You Pray To Nothing' and 'No One Escapes Us' bring the tempo down a great deal to create extremely dark, burning compositions, like a good version of Deicide's 'Insineratehymn'. The riffing has become a good deal more complex and melodic, and the drumming has become less binary in nature; vocals are also now less deep and more intelligible (not that they were particularly Lord Worm-like before). A more melodic and varied Aeon, though, is still more brutal than nearly any other band on the planet, and the overall tone of the band has not changed. If anything, the general attitude has gotten more focused, with all of the humor of the previous album gone from this one. It's even more demonic than before.

The technical performances have ramped up since 'Bleeding The False', and Aeon plays tighter and harder than ever. It's not just the speed that makes Aeon seem brutal: it's the intensity with which they play their instruments, that can't be faked through studio trickery. Each blast beat sounds positively crushing in the same way that Suffocation's drumming has: it really sounds like drummer Nils Fjellström is attempting to kill his kit through massive, crushing blows. The riffs are similar: each chord is wrecking and massive, and the only slight reprieve from this is in the brief solos. There's a machinelike delivery that Aeon has, a truly warlike sound that few others have been able to replicate, which gives their music an entirely new and ferocious edge when compared to the average these days. I wouldn't describe Aeon as brutal death metal; they don't really sound like Disgorge or Suffocation. Rather, it's traditional, early 90's style death metal, only sped up and brutalized dramatically; most of the riffs wouldn't seem very out of place back in '93, albeit much slower.

The production is, of course, great. Rich and bass heavy, with all elements audible, and all the power kept in the guitars and bass drums, just as it should be. It seems that it's a more serious album: 'Bleeding The False' was awesome, but it also felt like the band was playing around a bit. Not here. The anti-Christian sentiment is completely devoid of humor or good time feelings, and is, if possible, even more direct lyrically than the material on the first album. Aeon has essentially taken the crown of Satanic death metal from Deicide, and in the process, created material better than the vast majority of what that band better turned out. But the great question always is: "Is it better than the previous album?" Well, for that, I'm not so sure. As far as composition goes, this is obviously superior, being a great deal more complex and varied than 'Bleeding The False' could ever hope to be. But the absolute single-minded aggression and hatred of that album is still pretty cool to me. I suppose it comes down purely to personal preference.

Nothing more should need to be said. If you liked Aeon's first album, this one is the perfect logical successor and the perfect logical choice of purchase. Aeon is the fist in the face of Jehovah, and I don't think they'll ever stop doing what they're doing. If the band's values are as uncompromising as their music is, churches will mysteriously burn to the ground long after each member of Aeon has rotted away. Buy it or you're a Christian. And you don't want that, do you?

(Originally written for www.vampire-magazine.com)