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Aesma Daeva > The Eros of Frigid Beauty > Reviews
Aesma Daeva - The Eros of Frigid Beauty

Jarring, Jarring Sounds to Banish Sleep - 83%

FOrbIDen, December 28th, 2019
Written based on this version: 2002, CD, The Root of All Evil Records

American operatic metal project Aesma Daeva went through some reconfiguration between their 1999 debut Here Lies One Whose Name Is Written in Water, and their 2002 (maybe 2001? Sources vary) sophomore effort The Eros of Frigid Beauty. Many of the musicians present are different (with only a few members reprising their roles for one or two songs), and the style they play has changed. The music is still largely atmospheric, cerebral, and influenced by Western early music, but project leader and main songwriter John Prassas decided to step away from their brand of ambient/industrial/darkwave to pursue that metal thread hinted at in the debut and bring it to center stage. The product is a seamless blending of harpsichord, trumpets, and synthetic warbling with powerful metal riffing. The drawback however, is that with an ambitious (and some would say, pretentious) project such as this, wherein there is a lot going on at once, comes a lack of tightly honed songwriting that makes The Eros of Frigid Beauty a much cooler album than it is a good one. But after all, there is some value in novelty, don't act like there isn't.

First, I would like to do away with the notion that Aesma Daeva is a symphonic metal band. I and many others have most commonly labeled Aesma Daeva as some combination of operatic and symphonic metal, hell, the band somehow got the URL "symphonicmetalband.com" for their homepage, and yet after listening to this band over the course of the year, I find myself questioning that label. Their sound is all over the place, and horns and operatic singing do not symphonic metal make. The Eros of Frigid Beauty is more of an progressive/avant-garde with chaotic thrash metal riffing as its base, but pulls from different genres and sub-genres as well; there are portions of gothic and doom metal, and long portions of sparse ethereal wave interspersed. Is there traditional and classical instrumentation on this album? Yes. The album opens with a beautiful trumpet duet before the guitars crash in and the epicness shoots through the roof, with the main riff playing between the two instruments, but it feels more like a neo-medieval sound than it does a symphonic one. Aesma Daeva utilize these early music instruments more as a way to fill space and change the mood of the music rather than to create a single unified orchestral ensemble that can stand on its own. One might think this distinction is superfluous, but you'll find that Aesma Daeva don't sound much like the Nightwishes, Within Temptations, or After Forevers they are often compared to. Really, the closest thing to conventional European gothic/symphonic metal would be the four-and-a-half minute long instrumental song "Overature", with it's synthetic keyboard, flutes, brass instrumentation it sounds very reminiscent of Dreams of Sanity.

Needless to say, The Eros of Frigid Beauty is a challenging album -- I might even call it a divisive album. In my opinion, I think it offers a lot musically, and is an extravagant display of technical musicianship without being too wanker-y and annoying (of course everyone's mileage may vary). Being only seven tracks long, but taking almost an hour to play, I like that it deals in extremes. Aesma Daeva embraces their atmospheric side, letting the sound unfold for long periods of time with nothing but dissonant acoustic guitar plucking or eerie droning, building in volume and tension until overtaken by the harsh metal playing, which then makes room for the piano and trombone. The effect is sudden and jarring but feels natural and intentional -- everything here feels deliberate and fits perfectly, especially considering with how contained and self-referential it is. Main themes are repeated in different ways throughout the album, which lends to a satisfying completeness.

However, as much as I like how intense the music is, the writing for some of the individual parts, most notably the guitar, comes off as underdeveloped or not as memorable; in strictest terms, I can remember the way it made me feel, but not necessarily how it went. This is probably most apparent in the thirteen-minute long "In My Holy Time", which is the only song that is not worthy of its run-time. It's the only song on the album that truly reprises the empty ambient-noise ethereal wave sound of the second act of Here Lies One..., which would be perfectly fine, but it never manages to find the plot. It's not technically inept or lacking in artistic merit, but is arranged in a way that doesn't use its time effectively. However, compare this to the two songs that follow it: the title track and the aforementioned "Overature"; except for two lines of singing, these two songs account for nearly twenty two minutes of instrumental songwriting, and is the strongest material on the album.

Vocally, this album is pretty uniform, despite having three different people singing lead vocals. I wouldn't have been able to guess if I didn't read the credits that came with the album. Neither Rebecca Cords nor Danielle Lang from the debut recorded for Eros, instead vocals are performed by Adena Brumer, Sara Williamson, and Melissa Ferlaak, each giving a decent performance as operatic sopranos, but they don't sound particularly different throughout the album. Knowing this now and listening back, I might be able to say that Williamson gives the weakest performance, and because Ferlaak's contributions are so minimal she's overshadowed by Brumer who sings most of the record... but saying that would also mean that I'd be making several unfounded assumptions. Regardless, these three ladies do a great job of functioning as a single entity, and they do have nice voices, but much like the guitar riffs, the vocal melodies aren't the best written. There are some great parts, like the verses of "The Minstrel Song", and the one vocal line in "The Eros of Frigid Beauty", but the vocal melodies seem like they exist because they're expected to take up that space in the mix, not because they add so much to the music. In this regard, the vocals are a mixed bag. But the best performance by far is that of the power metal-industrial/goth rock marriage that is the closing song "Lysander II", in which Brumer shows off some of her diversity as a singer, dry shouting, strong chest voice, and smooth operatics.

The Eros of Frigid Beauty definitely prides itself at being a different listening experience. The combination of Prassas' songwriting and N Copernicus' almost industrial production is a little hectic and pretty off the wall, but definitely marries well. It's not quite the same thing, but as a fan of gothic/symphonic metal there's a lot here to find enjoyable. And even though I'd probably take Aesma Daeva's debut album over this, Eros is still a solid release that doesn't feel so much like an identity crisis in full-swing.

Not impressed - 20%

sashkello, December 20th, 2017

I liked their first album, but this one is quite underwhelming to me... It seems all the goodies should be there: darkwave'y melodies, symphonic metal epicness, some medieval inclusions. But it just doesn't work here.

First of all, the arrangement isn't made very well and out-of-place elements throw you out of the continuous listening experience. No good, it feels rushed and not thought-through.

And secondly, and most importantly, songwriting is just not up to their standards. It did seem like they are struggling with writing songs longer than 3 minutes, even on the first record. Most are just trying to repeat some musical idea over and over, without a proper buildup and release. But here it goes to a whole new level... Those two ~15 minute tracks in the middle are just completely pointless fillers. They sound exactly like a bridge in some Nightwish song, only it never stops and goes on for the whole 15 minutes. Nothing ever starts, no epic main section, no chorus, no identifiable melody, just awkward stumbling around going on and on...

Lack of vocals here is quite strange, for the most part this album is purely instrumental, and the quality of music doesn't justify it at all... There are just a few phrases sang towards the end of a 13-minute "In My Holy Time", and the next two tracks, totaling 22 minutes, are purely instrumental.

There is another "expanded" version of this album, where most tracks are a bit longer, adding the total of 10 extra minutes. I can imagine it is even more excruciatingly boring than the one I have. There's already way more than enough of instrumental jamming on this one.

I can't get rid of the feeling of listening to some kind of incomplete raw demo. Almost every track it feels like the guys are randomly jamming around, and something is about to start, but it never does. Every time there's some "hell yeah, this is what I'm talking about" moment, it ends immediately and abruptly with more pointless instrumentation...

Can't find anything redeeming here. It's very raw, it's poorly written and it's badly arranged...

BEAUTY? Are you kidding me? - 20%

Sean16, August 5th, 2009

Of course the band’s name was stupid. I don’t know where this widespread fancy for esoteric monikers no one will ever remember properly comes from, but don’t you think Now I’ll spin some Black Sabbath sounds far more powerful and, well, evil than Now I’ll spin some, wait, Aesma Daeva? But this being set aside it looked quite promising. A band classified as operatic metal with an interest in Mythology, an enigmatic album title and a cover showing a detail from this disturbing picture from pre-Renaissance French painter Fouquet, there seemed to be some artistic pretension here. However it soon appears Aesma Daeva indeed HAS artistic pretensions, and that’s the main problem. Granted I’ve only listened to this release so far, so maybe did I pick their St Anger without being aware of it, but as far as I’m concerned this isn’t operatic metal, this is your usual pseudo avant-garde metal with everything negative this may imply.

Because let’s put it straight, the metal on this album is merely restricted to a lonely, muffled down electric guitar playing a background of vaguely thrash-inspired riffs, as well as an unexpected lead guitar at the beginning of the closing track Lysander II. Everything else is occupied first by overmixed, badly programmed, degrading drums, second by an overdose of synths which could be alternatively dubbed symphonic, electro, disco, gothic or industrial, their mere common point being they’re, in any case, crap. Without forgetting to mention the crowning achievement of the whole release, this goofy, buffoonish trumpet which will above all be heard on the opener Lysander, but makes some short apparitions on the other tracks as well. And, from times to times, might be heard the female singer whose presence must be explained by the need of justifying the opera tag of the work, of which around eighty percent are indeed instrumental, what makes the vocals pretty hard to evaluate. Hell they aren’t that bad, the timbre is rather agreeable and the girl seems to be at ease with high notes, but given her lines are all twisted and shattered the result isn’t especially pleasant. After all perhaps the guys aimed to become the new Arnold Schönberg by creating atonal metal, who knows. In any case, they failed.

Of course as with every recording with avant-garde pretensions the song structures are pretty loose, though the listener is likely to find a semblance of organization if he dares digging a bit more under the synthetic mess. That is, that implies spinning the record several times, lending an attentive ear to it, what requires some courage as well as a minimal amount of masochism, and the reward isn’t worth the effort anyway. While Lysander or the title track may indeed be considered as genuine songs, some other pieces don’t make any sense regardless of the way you’re looking at them, like In My Holy Time, thirteen minutes but they could have cut it at any time without any loss of coherence given there isn’t any to begin with, or The Minstrel Song – ooooh blastbeats! glockenspiel! bass solo! I’m pretty sure they had extra takes they didn’t know where to put, so they mixed all of them together in a single track, alongside more electro galore. Awful.

Only the title track isn’t totally unpleasant to hear. It’s obviously thrice too long for what it is: you begin to think the intro is dragging on a bit, have a casual look at the clock, see ten minutes have elapsed and suddenly realize this isn’t the intro, this is the actual song... But what are we complaining about? Though by usual standards it’s a tedious, boring track, though the drums are still excessively annoying and the random harpsichord bits still totally unneeded, it’s at least metal, especially thanks to usual thrashy guitar being mixed a tad higher. And listen, ladies and gentlemen, between 12:04 and 14:13 lies the only stroke of let’s not say genius, but at least inspiration in the whole release. You know, harmony, majesty, BEAUTY, this thing falsely advertised in the title. This isn’t lasting long of course, and as soon as the next track we’re fully back into mediocrity: Overature is an instrumental opening on a vague reminiscence of the main theme of Lysander (admitting such a theme exists), above all pretext to outrageously pompous programmed orchestrations Within Temptation wouldn’t be afraid stealing for their own records. Oh, at least the idiotic electro keyboards are less prominent.

I know; this is art, this is only for the elect ones, the same old refrain. However let’s face it, it’s far easier to record this kind of nonsense junk than genuine, straightforward metal songs far more people could accurately judge the true value of. And the doom band that manages to imprint even only a slight personal touch on a forty years old genre deserves far more praise than bands like Aesma Daeva with their assuredly somehow unique but dissonant, disgraceful, disagreeable stammering.

Highlights: The Eros of Frigid Beauty

A little long-winded at times, but otherwise...-I- - 95%

HealthySonicDiet, December 12th, 2004

Aesma Daeva is a scarcely known operatic/symphonic metal band from the U.S., surprisingly, who have an exceptional knack for melding the 'operatic/symphonic' metal style with carefully doused doses of light industrial traces.

The Eros of Frigid Beauty is a concept album dealing with Odysseus and The Odyssey and it does a compelling job of portraying the dramatic sentiment of the characters and the storyline...opting for manic bursts of hyper, chugging guitars playing footsy with majestic trumpet flourishes, psychedelic keyboard attacks, beautiful acoustic guitar alchemy, flute cameos, and powerfully reflective piano suites.

With its lyrical focus, it has kinship with Symphony X's "The Odyssey". However, although both albums deal with the same basic lyrical concepts, The Eros of Frigid Beauty tackles the subject in more of a scholarly vein, as opposed to Symphony X's contemporary rendition of it. When listening to Eros, you get the feel of listening to a college lecture about the subject; oppositely, with "The Odyssey" the feel is more that of a newfangled Hollywood director's aspirations put to film.(I liken it to the contrast of the peaceful, studious atmosphere of a college classroom or auditorium to the 'hustle-and-bustle' mentality of modern life in various respects) Although this comparison and contrast may seem irrelevant, hopefully from this description you won't be duped into thinking you're going to hear another Nightwish, if you're one of those people who can't tolerate tranquillity.

It is this tranquillity which may turn people off from the band, sadly. Truthfully, this music is better suited to times of reflection and low personal energy levels. For people accepting of different tempos, however, this is a savorous delicacy to be eaten suddenly and inhaled gradually.

If the good music wasn't enough, you can find even more joy and gratification in the fact that the vocalist is very competent. Melissa Ferlaak, the main vocalist, is a tour de force. Although not outwardly expressive in the 'Tarja' sense, she utilizes a keen, calculated chokehold on vocal dynamics as it pertains to the emotional relevance of the current music being played. It is a common naive fallacy that good music always has good vocals, so when there is such a perfect marriage of these elements, it truly is a call for celebration.

I would highly recommend this masterwork...it truly is a piece of inspired genius. Daeva, hopefully, will enlist in the ranks of the more highly esteemed symphonic acts such as Nightwish, Therion, Stratovarius, and Symphony X in the near future.

Highlights: acoustic guitar solo in "In My Holy Time"; trumpet intro in "Lysander"; piano solo in "In My Holy Time"; industrial-synth plods on "The Eros of Frigid Beauty"; the flute 'jumps' in "Devotion"; choral vocals in refrain on "The Eros of Frigid Beauty"; the reprise of the main melody of "Lysander" in "Overature to You" and the pseudo-thrashiness of parts of it; the furious, syncopated onslaught and schizophrenic orientation of "The Minstrel Song"; and the completist nature, proggyness, and disco/Jamiroquai-like flautist essence of "Lysander II".

Less pussy, more metal - 87%

OSheaman, August 11th, 2003

Aesma Daeva really picks itself up and gets its shit together for this second album, which features much more metal influences and variety between songs than the narcoleptic Here Lies One Whose Name Was Written In Water.

There's still a lot of synth work and all, but instead of leaving it there, Aesma Daeva incorporates a lot more guitar, bass and drums into the music. The vocals aren't as emphasized here as in the first, but they're still beautiful and feature some amazing harmonies. What is most noticeable about the change in the band's sound between albums is the obviuosly wider range of metal influence that is on this second album. There's more than just plain, vanilla doom guitaring and drumming here; there's some real riffage going on here, and quite a bit of thrash and black influence is obvious in the music.

Nowhere is this more emphasized than in the first song, Lysander. The opening synth trumpets give way to some brutal thrashing that trades off with synth work and vocals. The old doom influences creep into the music as the song progresses, but they are done in a way so that the album never really becomes boring, per se. Devotion starts out with some acoustic guitar duet which leads into a sort of space-metal sound, similar to The Kovenant although not nearly as heavy. The Eros of Frigid Beauty is a doom-ish epic that manages to stay fairly interesting for all of its 17 1/2 minutes. Overture is another excellently done doom song with a lot of darker synth work (at times sounding very symphonic in nature). The Minstrel Song goes back to a more thrash/black style of guitar/drum work, with some really cool vocals. Finally Lysander II is chock full of power and thrash influences for a very interesting song with some cool riffs and *gasp* a guitar solo!

All is not perfect. In My Holy Time is the second-longest track at nearly 13 1/2 minutes, and except for some really cool opening riffs for the first minute, the song is thoroughly unremarkable and quite boring.

But overall, this is a vast improvement over the first album, enough so that I would recommend that everyone except the most avid haters of Industrial and keyboard music try this band out.