ALBUM REVIEW: Mnemosyne – Aenaon
When it comes to metal, the descriptor ‘avant-garde’ can be vague and loosely applied. Usually signifying a radical approach with a high degree of experimentation, it tends to work best when it is not altogether throwing out the metal textbooks, but rather lovingly refreshing them. This is exactly the feeling achieved by Mnemosyne – the fourth full-length offering from Greece’s progressively-minded black metal quartet AENAON. Six years of creative labour have birthed a masterfully crafted nine-song opus which takes the listener on a journey that is equal parts avant-garde and metal, and both in high quantities.
Psyche opens the record with a blast of astral black metal in the best traditions of ENSLAVED at their most post-rock. The music feels simultaneously ethereal and substantive, as it incorporates major key melodies backed by meaty guitar tones and thunderous drums. Midway through the song we are introduced to one of AENAON’s strongest trump cards – the saxophone of Orestis Zyrinis. It is revealed here with the spotlight fully shone over it, like a new character in a play who will turn out to be very important for the story. After the air of controlled intensity to the opening track, Cartesian Eye lets loose as the saxophone channels the Furies from Hades’ Underworld. Here they reach a territory closer to BEHEMOTH, but with a 70s progressive rock sheen.
The Greeks make it quite clear early on that eclecticism is key to their sound, but none of it is forced – the variety of styles and song phases all transition seamlessly between each other. Synastry Of Heartbeats is a case in point and one of the absolute standouts of the album, going from a sax introduction worthy of a film-noir into a mid-tempo black metal stomp via an electro-prog interlude. Vocalist Astrous varies his delivery style here, mixing up his usual vitriolic growls with projected shouts and clean singing to amplify the sense of drama, altogether resulting in a gigantic sounding eight minutes. Mantledeath is another longer song that earns every second of its runtime. Representing the emotional climax of the record, its 70s BLUE ÖYSTER CULT piano hook and soulful saxophone melody will nestle themselves inside your head.
Another intriguing dimension of the album is the use of instrumental interludes which act as palate cleansers throughout it. The hypnotic Pleiades is a jazzy piece for saxophone, percussion and acoustic guitar which could have easily come from a classic KING CRIMSON album. In Clark Nova, layers of saxophone combine to provide the rhythmic beat, an accordion-like backing track, and solo melodies. It eventually explodes with a trip-hop-inspired percussive beat, an approach that is taken to its logical conclusion in the album’s outro in Doppelgänger. That trip-hop noir feeling to the album associates it with ULVER’s avant-garde classic Perdition City, but with an uncompromisingly metal bloodline running through it.
Mnemosyne is recorded and mixed flawlessly, managing to both pack a punch and leave space for the different layers to breathe. While musically complex and engaging, it is rich in hooky riffs and moments of directness – such as Hysteria’s thrashy energy that ends up bordering almost on black ’n’ roll. Altogether, this makes for a rather rare beast – a catchy, accessible avant-garde black metal album. The band themselves are typically laconic about their creative output, only confiding that “as always, we have been silent but creatively restless, aiming to a timeless creation”. Rather apt, seeing as the band’s name means ‘the Eternal’ in Greek.
That aim of timelessness is no less than what AENAON have achieved here. The eclectic mixture of inspirations and approaches ensures that the Greeks’ fourth album cannot be tied to one particular movement or trend in metal today. Sure to offer something for fans of many subgenres of metal (and beyond), Mnemosyne is quite simply a triumph.
Rating: 9/10
Mnemosyne is out now via Agonia Records.
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