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Review: Aethereus - Leiden (2022)

By Mianydoire


Aethereus is a technical death metal band that formed in 2014 at Tacoma, Washington. I found them when they join with The Artisan Era and released debut album Absentia in 2018. They are so genius at combining technical death metal with progressive elements and very massive melodies with different taste. In this year they return and released the sophomore album is called Leiden that was released by The Artisan Era on January 14, 2022. For sure it make me so happy and stoked.

Leiden is an album that is rich in wider exploration and written more ambitious than Absentia, as if there is something missing if I call it just technical death metal, because in my ears this is more than just technical death metal that we usually listen, the musical composition of this album is very complex and hard to diggest, it contains many elements such as progressive, melodic, classical, or brutal sound that are played in their own style. Exhilarating guitar playing, indulgent, tearing and even heart-touching solos, majestic orchestral and melancholic strings, explosive drums, very solid vocals, and elegant bass playing also stand out here. Track by track flows with incredible transitions and is executed to perfection. I think the selection of Behold, The World Eater as the main single is very appropriate, this song represents the beauty and ferocity of this album. Drums and vocals are the main elements that make their sound stronger, the snaking guitar solos provide a climax and great satisfaction for death metal devotees, also the incredile bass playing is sound sexy in my ears.

Overall, Leiden delivers a wonderful mix of technical and progressive death metal with beautiful melodies, majestic orchestral, and melancholic string that executed with their own styles. I really love their work in this album showcasing a lot of beautiful bass lines, fantastic riffs, mind-blowing and heart-touching melodic solos, explosive drums, and very incredible vocals. All this guys did awesome work, giving a good balance between sweet melodic and aggressive elements, producing such an incredible shape for this album where everything is properly dosed and has already a memorable sound. For me this is an amazing album and it is a own pleasure to be able listen to this album with their great taste in music.