Review Summary: Bringing a fresh new feel to the expiring metal genre with a variety of techniques. Your in for a real treat.
In today’s clouded metal scene it is a rare occurrence that a new band emerges with traits that come across as new and put out an album that cohesively flows in a listenable manner. It seems that when you listen through a metal album nowadays you find a few songs that really capture your interest but the rest falls flat and leaves your slightly disappointed. Aegaeon’s “Dissension” could be placed somewhere between these two descriptions.
The album opens with the atmosphere that Aegaeon’s fans know and love. When “Dimensions of Reality” begins you can hear the spacey feel with a very heavy twist which helps to define what you will hear throughout the rest of the album. All in all this track has some of the best work behind the drum kit and the most menacing and I dare say epic guitar parts on the entire album. The style of vocals used throughout the album is very death metal esque and help to bridge the djent style heavy sound with a progressive death metal sound and theme. This track should give you a good feel for whether or not you will enjoy the album.
Following the grandiose introduction you will hear a subtle instrumental track that adds to the atmosphere of the album and nothing more. It is pleasant, but not entirely necessary.
The transitions in the next track are its strongpoint. “A Product of Variety” is very similar to the opening track in many ways. It is just as massive as well as crushing and the breakdowns hit in such a way that they do not seem unoriginal or even like a breakdown at all. However the track feels extremely brief regardless of passing the three minute mark and leads right back into another instrumental that doesn’t seem to set up anything.
If you’ve heard of Aegaeon prior to this review, it’s probably because of “Reshaping the Multiverse.” This piece defines Aegaeon as a band and what they are trying to achieve as a group. One of the magnificent things about this group is that every song, every album and every EP they have released has the same production value (which is very high quality) sound and style, and that is not a bad thing at all. This song literally wraps up everything that I enjoy about this band and presents it to you as by far the most smashing heavy and glorious piece of ear candy that was released in the metal genre of 2011. The guitar blends a heavy and chunky yet crisp and effortless djent-like guitar tone in an extremely jumpy fashion while still embodying the ominous doom that the entire band embodies. The transitions, the attacks and the well devised breakdowns of this song are all nearly flawless. This track is the high point of the album, this track is Aegaeon.
“Consumption of Everything,” starts off with a speedy sweeping guitar lick and fuses seamlessly with a heavy grind riff that transforms into the signature spacey sound that the band pulls off so well. Blending the heaviest moments but still keeping a grasp on the movement of the song and the album as whole, but not detracting from what was previously heard; this track is not only well placed but well executed.
The transition to “Perception II,” is probably the best metal transition from track to track I have heard in a very long
time. I don’t really have much to say about this song. It’s more concepts than anything special as It really feels like the same track as before. That isn’t a bad thing, I just feel like it might as well be one song.
“Impermanence” is somewhat of a breath of fresh air. Not that your ears will grow tired of the album, but it is defiantly nice to hear a track that is somewhat stylistically variant to the other pieces. It is a very fast moving track and it carries you along swiftly without letting up.
Another rather uninspired instrumental track takes the stage that does nothing for the album other than bring you back into the outer space atmosphere. The instrumentals are probably the least favorable thing about Aegaeon as they tend to make excessive use of them. They are not always a bad thing, but they aren’t always well placed or well executed.
The last real track of the album is “The Awakening.” I sadly do not have anything special to say about it. It’s a rather typical djent song with some death metal elements. It is a cool song, but it isn’t something that really speaks out about the band more than the other songs already have. It however does effectively close the album and would serve as a much more logical conclusion that the instrumental that follows it.
Musically speaking, Aegaeon has everything right. They don’t sound like any other bands on the scene right now and the blend of styles and ability make “Dissension” a real treat to listen to. From the powerhouse crushing vocals to the often serene and overwhelmingly heavy and complex guitar parts, and the driving bass guitar to the expressive marching toward destruction drumming, Aegaeon brings a good name to metal and gives hope for what was once becoming a stale genre.
