Dark Sorcery

If I was going to name Norwegian bands, with the most distinguished, original sound and style, then I would definitely mention Aeternus among them. They were (and still are, actually) completely different to all other bands from Norge and despite being formed in the golden era of Norwegian black metal, they never had much in common with the likes of Gorgoroth, Darkthrone, Emperor or Immortal. Which did not prevent them from being an important part of the scene! And that makes me think why the hell it feels like they are so underrated and almost forgotten nowadays?

Anyway, Aeternus music was always very original and interesting. And it was such from their very first recording - which is amazing, I think! You could listen to a small part of their music and you'll immediately know that this is Aeternus playing, because there have never been another band, which would sound alike. I have to admit that I enjoy all Aeternus albums, but my favourites are those early recordings, especially "Dark Sorcery" EP, which is so fuckin awesome piece of music. Maybe one of the reasons why I enjoy it a bit more is the fact that it's a shorter recording (27 minutes of music on the Hammerheart digipack edition, which I own), so it is easier to get into. Aeternus music can sometimes feel a bit monotonous, as they often put songs through similar kind of slow-paced tempo, with that harsh, yet incredibly heavy riffage and monstrous, deep growl of Ares. So, it works the best on shorter recordings. And as such, "Dark Sorcery" is close to perfection, with no weak parts at all.

Aeternus style of music is something between black metal - with that dark, very epic and monumental sound, slightly alike to bands such as Hades maybe, yet very different at the same time - and death metal, with that massive sound, overwhelming crushing heaviness and very deep growl of Ares, who sounds like he was summoning gods in the battlefield frenzy, not just "singing" some words. Riffs are quite special here, and I have to say that I love how Aeternus combines their heavy nature with a bit of majestic melody and sometimes even folky tunes. If you listen to these songs carefully then you will immediately recognize great potential and fantastic atmosphere, which this music brings. Yes, monumental, epic, war-like and truly destructive. It may feel slightly one dimensional in the beginning, but it's still very exciting and inspiring stuff, especially if you listen to such fantastic, thunderous tracks like "Raven and Blood" or "Victory". Their music has all these little details, like melodic bits, acoustic guitar parts, howling vocals, which gives even more impressive result. Absolutely essential part of the Norwegian metal scene, in my opinion. So, if you don’t know them, then check Aeternus out now.

Standout tracks: "Raven and Blood", "Victory"
Verdict: 85/100

To be honest, It is a very simple formula that is presented on this first ep of the Norwegian band Aeternus. Somehow their name plays into this because one cannot shake of the impression as if the music would be able to go on for even longer, without ever annoying or tiring the listener. It is the steadiness, it is the limitation, it is the atmosphere which all in coalition leave this positive impression. 1995 the black metal scene looked different and the amount of facets of our days could not have been foreshadowed back then; not surprisingly the sound had been another one and could be perceived more gloomy today then all those years ago.

Back to the steadiness and to the simplicity. It appears that one merely needs to know how to brew the elements together properly in order for them not to leave the listener annoyed or bewildered. There is this consideration in the song-writing about the need for layers and how these support each other. Even though the drums are quite monotonous and could easily be “handled” by a drum-computer, they do not sound off. Furthermore, the guitars fall into a similar pattern and create a dense layer of sound, which comes over as quite impenetrable and creates the main focus once the vocals do not make an appearance. The melodies are allowed to progress slowly, there is no haste, the motives are supposed to sink in – sorcery or religion gains its strength from the aspect of constant repetition and this is celebrated by the Norwegian band in this case. Be it the subliminal manipulation of the mind in “Black Dust”, the glorification of the brutal deeds of a primitive tribe in “Victory” or the pagan mysticism in “Raven and Blood” all of these appear in a somewhat similar style and approach. Every time the music has this inevitable need for moving on. Or … is this because of the banality of each of these aspects; rendered meaningless in an environment of constant movement or dynamics? With this all encompassing imperative the perspective towards time and space changes and places these on a different level than modern man would tend to do.

Anyway, what is somewhat curious about this release, as well as the later “... and So the Night Became”, is the limitation in dimension. Despite the extreme topics, the emphasis on war and destruction the music is surprisingly calm and maybe even focussed – in German I would use the word “gesammelt”, but I had been unable to find a term that would translate properly into English in this case. Somehow as if the entire aspect would be nothing more than a banal circumstance, whose overall implications can basically be ignored. Yes, the music is dark and the vocals – this generally great performance by Ares on the early outputs – do their part to increase the tension, but from a broader perspective one might ask whether the actual presentation of the topics are not a bit wanting and unnecessarily bereft of certain facets and sounds. This is also the main criticism of their second album – referred to above – as well as of their third one – “Shadows of Old”, which has seen a drastic shift on numerous levels and whose concept is rather an excuse for avoiding the issue of the preceding output.

“Dark Sorcery” is a mixture of sounds and approaches. The tracks shift in concept and dominance. It feels as if the band had recorded the music during different sessions and did not pay proper attention for those trifles like an adequate balancing between the compositions. Leaving this aside, the last track on this ep falls a bit through the cracks, because “Nordlys”, except for an indirect reference to the concept of course, fails to be connected to the overall performance of the band on this ep. The fact that this flaw makes a strange reappearance throughout their “career” does definitely not help things in this regard. It comes over as an excuse for failing to web certain facets together into a coherent framework. Emperor had shown a larger amount of skill in song-writing in this regard.

The fan boys are presumably all over this release, because in it those first glimpses of the later “grandeur” of the music of the Norwegians can be examined; their albums are overrated to some extent. But there are far too many unsatisfying things going on here. All of these are just small things, yet one cannot deny to ascertain that they all combined reduce the overall quality somehow. The icy guitars, the powerful drums and the impressive vocals are all well done in their respective corner. Once these appear aligned together questions arise … and with answers out of sight. It is no surprise to see a change in direction some year later, because throughout their albums the music is only allowed to shine locally and in small spots, while from a broader perspective it fails to thoroughly impress. It is the first step of a band that never really dared to dig deep into the realm that their music supposedly dealt with.

Aeternus is a band that back in their early days were definitely one of those up-an-coming groups that were making a pretty good name for themselves in the underground. It didn't hurt the fact of the notion that they managed even in their demo days that they simply stood out from most of the goofy panda-faced pack of extreme Scandinavian metal imitators. Even though Aeternus have all the necessary and right black metal influences and roots, they were simply much more than that and they were onto a genre of music that is to this day hard to define; dark metal.

Dark metal is one of those many sub-genre names you always hear; Viking metal, Celtic metal, avant garde metal, etc. It's one of those names that are too broad to classify seeing how in reality so many bands carry the same traits as far as influences, lyrical themes. I mean, what makes a band such as Amon Amarth any different from Morbid Angel, other than they are at polar opposites of nature's elements(fire and ice, go figure!) and one talks about Vikings? They both still play death metal. So what could be dark metal described as? Well, it's extreme. That's a start. It's easily black and death metal, but it also includes doom and folk influences. Now I know some person is going to read this and disagree or say "You're so full of shit"...but then again you can go ahead your own damn review and give YOUR definition. Back to the topic; Aeternus is easily as black and death metal, but they are also as easily influenced by doom and folk at the same time perfecting a very HEAVY and just DARK sound. It's the kind of sound that evokes a feel of pure dread when alone. Crawling in a fetus position in a jail cell while being in an extreme state of schizophrenia or alone in the middle of the black forests of Maryland and hearing wild dogs howl in the dead of night. It's not depressing or melodramatic, it's just a heavy state of dread and fear mixed into one another. It's crushing in every sense.

"Dark Sorcery" opens up with the song "Black Dust" which has vocalist Ares showing his great evil-sounding deep vocals off with the lines "human dreams - such a fruitful place to plant the seeds of terror." The song itself is very haunting. Imagine old-school Bathory mixed in with a more thicker, and echo-y doom metal sound/influence. There is a fuzz the guitars give off, but it adds to the thick wall of darkness the band manages to pull off. It's a very emotional piece that when I first listened to it, I imagine the simplistic idea of a child afraid of falling asleep at night because the boogeyman might get him. Mixed in with the sound of church bells, wolves, and evil-sounding monsters, again it evokes images of all your childhood fears come to life. For an opening track, it already sets the tone for the rest to follow. "Victory" opens up with Ares howling inhumanly, as if in pain. This song is more mid-tempo with some quick double bass rolls and is catchy. "Raven And Blood" could have easily been written by Amon Amarth. Oh yeah this one has those epic fucking Swedish metal riffs that goes back and forth between both Swedish death and black metal, which always amazes me because Aeternus are Norweigian. I'm not a rocket scientist on just how different Norweigian metal and Swedish metal and probably couldn't provide you with a definate answer, but Aeternus nails it with their sound. "Nordlys" is am amazing, beautiful acoustic piece with a medieval Celtic touch to it that makes you remember times of yore with huge beer mugs and wenches with their bosoms delivering them to you. The extra track "In the Darkest Circles Of Time" takes "Raven And Blood" and ups the evil mixture of Swedish black/death metal riffs and puts them to a war-like marching beat that ends with a crushing double-bass bridge with Ares growling the song's title.

Last thing I forgot to mention is how this band put out some really good albums even after this. Although shortly after their second album "...and So the Night Became", they put out one more album with their original and best line-up which consisted of Ares on vocals/guitars, Morrigan on bass, and Vrolok on drums, they completely lost track and tried to sound too much like Zyklon/Morbid Angel in my opinion. It sucks because up to their second album Aeternus was just a damn good band. Oh well. I still remember the day I actually found their "Dark Sorcery" E.P. in the local record store and then taking it home and being blown away by the sound and everything. Also if you managed to come across a copy of this, make sure it's the 1999 Hammerheart re-issue. It's worth it. It's definitely one of the handful of albums I constantly go back to and tell people about.

Holy fucking shit, I should’ve got this one sooner. I wasn’t expecting such a glorious demo from two years prior to “Beyond…”, yet my cynicism over Aeternus' consistancy has yet again been proven unfounded. There’s not even a slight feeling of primitivity or unbalanced songwriting, this is Aeternus in a nutshell; intelligent, epic and above all conceptually coherent. There’s even a lovely acoustic instrumental!

The songs don’t quite follow lyrically in the manner they do on “Beyond…”, which isn’t abnormal for an EP, but Aeternus yet again never lose sight of their goal, sailing into war with ingrained pride and honour. In fact there is very little difference between this and the debut full-length, except maybe a slight lack in subtlety, contrasting moods and daring exploration, so I’m struggling to think of anything to add.

Bottom line: This is narrative, epic, glorious DM-influenced BM that should be on every Aeternus fan’s list (and everyone else’s too).