Aetherius All That I Need to Survive
Nightmare Records 10 July 2007
By Neil Hauer
All That I Need to Survive is the debut album from newcomers Aetherius. Emerging from progressive metals birthplace, the American Northeast (also home to such genre heavyweights as Dream Theater, Fates Warning and Symphony X), they describe themselves as progressive metal with a soul, a decidedly ambiguous slogan that fits with the band members choice of using only their initials to identify themselves. This is a group who want the listeners sole focus to be on the music and lyrics at hand, without any other factors present.
After the short intro piece, the band launch into the first real song on the record, Minding the Hourglass. The song is well written as a whole, but it suffers from a variety of strange issues, the most obvious being the poor production of the track. The sound is very muddy, and the piano sounds odd, almost out of tune; additionally, the kick drum is much louder than every other instrument. Thankfully, the sound quality of the rest of the album is markedly better, but there are a handful of problems that persist throughout the record. Certain lyrical passages come off as juvenile, most notably in the aforementioned track, where conspicuously out-of-place harsh vocals are introduced in the chorus for the sole purpose of yelling burn, motherfucker, burn!. Needless to say, this doesnt aid the bands credibility.
Having said that, the group are polished from an instrumental standpoint: the guitar solos are tasteful and melodic, while the drummers parts are often a highlight. The Dream Theater influence is a little too pronounced, but this is only the bands first full-length recording, and they still have plenty of time ahead of them to develop and refine a truly unique sound. This is not a masterpiece, but still enjoyable for anyone looking for a new progressive metal fix.
Official Aetherius Myspace
Official Nightmare Records Website
Nightmare Records 10 July 2007
By Neil Hauer
All That I Need to Survive is the debut album from newcomers Aetherius. Emerging from progressive metals birthplace, the American Northeast (also home to such genre heavyweights as Dream Theater, Fates Warning and Symphony X), they describe themselves as progressive metal with a soul, a decidedly ambiguous slogan that fits with the band members choice of using only their initials to identify themselves. This is a group who want the listeners sole focus to be on the music and lyrics at hand, without any other factors present.
After the short intro piece, the band launch into the first real song on the record, Minding the Hourglass. The song is well written as a whole, but it suffers from a variety of strange issues, the most obvious being the poor production of the track. The sound is very muddy, and the piano sounds odd, almost out of tune; additionally, the kick drum is much louder than every other instrument. Thankfully, the sound quality of the rest of the album is markedly better, but there are a handful of problems that persist throughout the record. Certain lyrical passages come off as juvenile, most notably in the aforementioned track, where conspicuously out-of-place harsh vocals are introduced in the chorus for the sole purpose of yelling burn, motherfucker, burn!. Needless to say, this doesnt aid the bands credibility.
Having said that, the group are polished from an instrumental standpoint: the guitar solos are tasteful and melodic, while the drummers parts are often a highlight. The Dream Theater influence is a little too pronounced, but this is only the bands first full-length recording, and they still have plenty of time ahead of them to develop and refine a truly unique sound. This is not a masterpiece, but still enjoyable for anyone looking for a new progressive metal fix.
Official Aetherius Myspace
Official Nightmare Records Website
