| CD REVIEW Stranger Aeons |
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Band: Stranger Aeons Stranger Aeons are a Lithuanian band, formed in 2002 as Bestija, and known as Stranger Aeons as from 2009. The sextet did release a single/ 7”EP in 2009, which was called Lost, by the way, also released through Ledo Takas, one of the most influential labels from the Baltics, and meant as appetizer to this album. The band’s debut eNneagon was recorded at studio Unitedzeros with Paulius Jasiunas (recording & mix – he did also take care of some additional keyboard lines and arrangements), and the whole was mastered by Dennis Israel at Clintworks.eNneagon has duration of more than an hour – except for two instrumental pieces, each song last between seven and eleven minutes. The result is rather surprising, because the whole sounds very cohesive and mature. The tracks are pretty varying and experimental, balancing between Prog, Rock and Metal in general. The lead vocals by Edita Burbulyte are warm and very strong, and nicely supportive to the unusual song structures. The instrumentation is varying too. Keywords are rhythmic and up-tempo, sometimes with the focus on eighties Hard Rock, then modern avant-garde Prog Metal, or technical Heavy Metal-oriented. Even though the approach is disturbing and contradictory, it does sound very catchy. And most elements fit: the guitar solos, the diversity on emotions and within the tempo, the addition of acoustic parts, keyboards and piano… Besides, there is a complete scala on extras: unusual breaks, contrasts in each direction, additional grunts, extremely heavy parts versus sober pieces, and so on, and so on, and so on… The bio uses the words ‘intricate’ and ‘labyrinthine’ and I do agree. It covers the concept, which is a difficult journey through a spectrum of human worthlessness (that’s my personal impression!), and in combination with the intriguing artwork, this dark-introspective package surprises. 77/100 Ivan Tibos. |
