I know there are just as many people who dislike the Swedish death metal scene as there are who love it. Many bands, after some time, choose to "degenerate" their music—my term for it—or in their own words, "improve musical quality" and continue on the path of technical death metal.
I could talk about this topic at length, but right now, the focus is on the brutal Swedish death metal band AEON.
The Aeon crew has been part of the extreme metal world for about 16 years. Even before Aeon was formed, they continued this path under a different name.
Aeon’s lyrics generally revolve around anti-religion and Satanism themes. It’s fair to say that they pursue their ideology more uncompromisingly than many bands claiming to play black metal these days.
What I want to tell you about is their 2007 album Rise To Dominate. The album was released by Metal Blade Records and consists of 12 tracks running about 45 minutes.
Throughout this duration, a heavy brutal structure blankets the album; unlike some Swedish death metal bands, it absolutely avoids melodic frills and sentimentality.
From the first track, when you hear the huge shout of "LUCIFER," the relentless, high-quality music can easily get you addicted. I firmly believe this album is a must-have for fans of the genre. Especially if you’re like me and love Satanic Brutal Death Metal bands in the vein of Deicide, don’t skip this one. The first and tenth tracks are especially brutal—these devils really laid it down hard.
Album covers and design that fit the overall nature of the album and band are important to me. I’m not fond of modernized artworks, but when it comes to brutal death metal, modernized images don’t really bother me, so I liked this album cover.
Finally, I hope Aeon manages to stay underground and continues without becoming posers like Behemoth or Satyricon. It’s a sadly familiar scenario where bands making quality music with this kind of sound eventually forget their roots, turn into rock stars, and lead the dumbest metal types in the scene.
This album deserves a solid 8 out of 10.