Aesma Daeva

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Dawn of the New Athens

Rating: 4/5

This album was released in the spring of 2007 and was the first official full-length release in four years. Many will remember the stunning masterpiece tracks "Downvain" and "Darkness" from their debut album released through Accession Records in 1999. The Eros of Frigid Beauty was the previous album which took a very thematic symphony approach with lengthy compositions which were hard to break down and present on the radio or as club tracks, buy some may remember the review here or occasional tracks on the radio shows. This latest album definitely has more hit potential with tracks broken down in length and arrangements such that it's easy to present them on the radio and club scene.

The music on this album is definitely easily recognized as Aesma Daeva. The heavy metal riffs with grinding guitars and driving drums are heavy and move each piece along for a harsh and driving backdrop to the angelic opera vocals from Lori Lewis. It opens with the masterpiece "Tisza's Child" which quickly became a favorite piece. This anthem starts off with smooth angelic vocals that drift along until the grinding guitars kick in and slowly build along with heavy percussion. This grows into a moving climax to kick off the album and set the tone for what's to come. Other pieces along these lines that fans more into the gothic and ethereal genres will love include some real masterpieces. Another favorite along these lines is the slower and somewhat dreamier piece "Artemis". This features some soaring arrangements that really help to bring out the beauty in this piece, moving away from a lot of the grinding metal guitars, though they still exist, they don't dominate the song structure quite as much though add heavy accents to the music for added volume, body and beauty to it all. And excellent take on what this band can do is with "D'Oreste" which is still along these lines that is a little more gothic because of the symphonic approach, and anyone who enjoys a good opera will love this piece, as that's what it is, solid metal opera! It's really interesting and really fun. "The Camp of Souls" also has a lot of ethereal touches to it that fans will enjoy, in some places the guitars and percussion completely cut out, leaving it a pure ethereal dream.

"The Bluish Shade" is solid, driving heavy metal that fans into this heavier side should really enjoy. The opera vocals continue and take off some of the edge, but there's no question where the foundation of this piece lies. With harsh driving rhythms, "Hymn to the Sun" kicks right in for metal fans to really sink their teeth into. As we get on toward the end of the album, the soaring guitars and heavy percussion on "Ancient Verses" bring out the metal mayhem in full force. The structure of each of these pieces is interesting and captivating for fans of multiple genres. The next piece is a great example of this as a touch of medieval, fantasy, metal and opera all come together on "Since the Machine" with some deep backing vocals for a nice touch.

We wrap it up with something more of an ethereal piece with "The Loon", though heavy percussion and grinding guitars are still present, they remain a little more subtle and mix well with the overall dreamy structure of the piece. With that, the album comes to a close and so does our review. It's a great work, probably their best to date and with that we look forward to more, hopefully not needing to wait another four years.