Aetherium Mors – Drenched in Victorious Blood (2013)
Early this year, we received an e-mail from Aetherium Mors, a UK based Black/Death Metal band. This is a huge surprise (we feel honoured as well) for us as it’s rarely for us to receive contacts from outside South East Asia. No need to go into details, here’s what we can tell, copy and pasted from their press kit.
“UK-based Blackened Death Metal band Aetherium Mors, have released their debut album. Entitled ‘Drenched In Victorious Blood’, it is a seven track explosion of melodic riffs, speedy drumming and searing guitar solos, with the black metal-influenced vocals offering a scathing indictment of the Christian religion. It is available to stream or download at http://aetheriummors.bandcamp.
Drenched in Victorious Blood is a debut full length from this UK duo and after rounds of listen I find it interesting especially their combination of Norwegian Black Metal and Swedish Melodic Death Metal. Brutal yet melodic, which I personally think suits my taste, since I actually dig Gothenburg sound (Dark Tranquillity, At the Gates) and here what we have is like At the Gates with apocalyptic/anti-religion themes.
The album actually took some time to materialize, with songs written for several years back and all, hence explain the variety of mood and influences scattered all over the album. At one place I feel like listening to straightforward Black Metal, all brutal and relentless and then at times I get those Gothenburg sound style (particularly At the Gates) and at some point surprisingly I feel like listening to unreleased materials from Necrophagist (I could be wrong tho!).
To be honest I don’t really appreciate the first three tracks as there is really nothing outstanding from standard Black Metal. But if you are into that evil, kult type Metal, these tracks could satisfy your palette. Things suddenly take a huge turn beginning from the fourth track. Melodeath/ Black Metal combined perfectly. I can’t tell you how much I dig those sick riffs coupled with in-your-face guitar solos. I can say that Drenched in Victorious Blood is divided into two part, one side you have relentless barrage of Black Metal and on the other, you have Melodic Death Metal. These are my favourite pick off from this album:
Kingdom of Shadows: This! A must listen. At the Gates influence is everywhere in this song. Perfectly executed. Oh don’t even get me started with the guitar solo oh the solo!
Order of the Talion: Another highlight of the album. Yes, that Gothenburg style riff is still there. There is a dual vocals here: one with standard grunt, another one with deep growl which added depth to the overall song structure. Guitar department proved its mettle here with technical riffing all over the place. My only complaint is the drum. It doesn’t sound natural here (in fact, the whole album). But that’s another story.
Annihilating Fire: Closing track for the album. I think it’s a right move to place this song at the end. Dan and Kane pulled their best here, with Melodic Death and Black Metal elements are balanced here. You get the melodic riffing as well the sinister Black Metal atmosphere. Check out the last part, few seconds of accoustic guitars really worked on evoking said atmosphere.
Overall I think this is a decent debut for the duo. I am slightly turned off by the first three tracks but the rest worked like a magic and I’m hooked ever since. In fact Kingdom of Shadows is in my heavy rotation (especially during gym!) and I prefer to have Aetherium Mors to go for this direction on future releases. Also, I wonder if the drums are programmed? Or sampled? I find it annoying, it sounded too processed. Other than that, this is almost a solid release! For queries regarding physical release, you may ask them through Facebook or email.
Aetherium Mors can found here:
Facebook
Email
We would like to thank Dan Couch for contacting us about the release.
Nice, well written review. I'm going to check out this band now. Also, very cool that such a band has noticed a Malaysian website!!
Hey Jill! Thanks for dropping by!