THE BLOSSOMING

I always like it when bands work in non-conventional rock instruments to their music. Even if it's just a one-off solo in one song, that sort of timbral variation can go a long way in making a band's music that much more enjoyable. What I like even more is when a band can fully integrate a non-typical rock instrument into their music in a key way, like Kansas's violin, or Titus Groan's many wind and reed instruments.

Ætheria Conscientia is a band that does an excellent job of integrating saxophone into their music. Their 2021 release, Corrupted Pillars of Vanity, saw them weaving saxes into every nook and cranny of their compositions. That warm, reedy buzziness complemented the chug and crunch of their guitars, while also underscoring their jazz influences. Saxophone remains prominent on The Blossoming, their new release; it is an integral part of their overall sound.

"Astral Choir" opens with a twangy, Middle Eastern-tinged guitar line, and I really like the band's use of hand percussion. It adds a certain rhythmic lightness and nimbleness to what is an otherwise steady, almost plodding opening riff. Icy walls of black metal fight against summerier jazz tones, and the occasional synth embellishment adds depth and complexity. As this cut reaches its second half, things slow down and lighten up considerably, and moments are simply straight-up jazz. That vaguely Eastern mode is prominent here, lending this an exotic feel. The transition back to metal is naturalistic, aided along by some smart choices in guitar tone and some lovely guest vocals. This 10-minute cut ends with a powerful, ascending passage, and it's a great way to close out the opening track. That momentum naturally feeds into the rest of the record.

"Haesperadh", in contrast, is much slower and smoother. There's almost a sultriness to the laid-back jazz tones present in this song's opening. As it progresses, though, that sort of easy confidence shifts to anxiety, and the guitars grow more distorted to reflect that. Agalloch is a clear influence on the vocal melody and construction of the verses. Sax serves ably both as a lead and a support at different moments, and the band's shifting between jazz-rock and atmospheric black metal and doom metal is so natural it's hardly noticeable.

At only a touch over five minutes, "Wrath of the Virikoï" is the shortest song on The Blossoming, and it plunges into a high-intensity passage immediately. Hazy, doomy black metal with distant sax backing tumbles forward relentlessly, and subtle flourishes and fills keep the backing track interesting. The band plays around with meter in a wonderfully disorienting way in this song's midsection. Squealing, twisting synthesizer flashes add to the uneasy sense of time.

Cold, airy synth stabs open "Daimu Kadasdra Ko Antall". As percussion and guitar enter, the band revisits those Middle Eastern scales last heard in "Astral Choir". There's a sense of foreboding as this piece takes its time in getting going. In fact, it might take a bit too much time to get going, but it does feature a wonderful Gilmourian guitar solo near its end.

Eastern motifs continue on "Endless Cycle". It has a slow, ritualistic mood in its opening, underscored by hand percussion and groaning wordless vocals. It eventually bursts into a heavy riff that is both lurching and searing. Saxophones jump about, weaving silky leads above the distorted fray.

The Blossoming closes on its title track. Warm, hopeful saxophone and rippling clean guitar call to mind some of King Crimson's work, but that's soon brushed aside by pummeling, heart-pumping black metal. The band ties together their best tendencies on this cut. Jazz and post-metal flavors mingle with their usual prog and black metal base, and the song is long enough to allow for plenty of exploration and evolution without bogging down. The guest vocalist from earlier in the album returns here, and her contribution helps add to this song's unique character.

The Blossoming is another strong release from Ætheria Conscientia. It feels more focused than their last record, and that largely works in their favor. The music is fresh, inventive, and affecting.

Review originally posted here: theeliteextremophile.com/2024/08/19/album-review-aetheria-conscientia-the-blossoming/

While the breve diacritical mark seems to have usurped the umlaut in the battle of attention getting gimmicks in the world of extreme metal, Nantes, France based ÆTHERIA CONSCIENTIA jettisoned the cumbersome vowel shorteners on its sophomore album assuming constant complaints of keyboard limitations in typing such unnecessary accessories became a nuisance. Nomenclature fashion faux pas' aside this avant-garde progressive metal band that looks as much for its influences to the world of 70s prog rock acts like King Crimson as it does modern art metal masters such as Krallice and Mare Cognitum has forged ahead over the past years with an ever expansive stylistic approach that continues to siphon up disparate influences like a high powered vacuum cleaner at the cash wash.

THE BLOSSOMING is the band's third effort and continues the eclectic pilings of atmospheric black metal, prog and psychedelia with a touch of jazz fusion decorating the side lines. This is one of those bands that likes to spice up its black metal entree so intensely that in the end it becomes more like a bento box of tasty treats dished out in controlled doses as not to make anything really stand out too intensely as to steal the show so to speak. This album of six tracks that adopts the classic album running time of 44 minutes retains its rampaging atmospheric black metal angst that unfurl into posty progressive song structures that find moments of saxophone splendor and Middle Eastern grooves and rhythms adding a touch of exoticism to the mix. While Paul Breheret dominates with his blackened raspy vocal screams from the abyss, guest musicians add a touch of world fusion as if a black metal band had decided to crash a party at the sheik's pad and the merriment ensued.

While black metal has hybridized with what seems like every musical expression this side of the next galaxy, the mix with Middle Eastern elements is not one that is very common and for whatever reason doesn't seem to work as well as it should possibly because the spiritually uplifting Arabic musical scales and rhythmic drive is in a way the antithesis of the scary brutal alienating nature of black metal although Christian liturgical choirs have worked out quite well. The moments where these elements accent the black metal are fine but it seems like when the metal is dropped and the bellydance party is about to begin it dilutes the effect of what black metal is supposed to deliver. It's an interesting experiment for sure but not one that sounds totally convincing either. Jazzy Middle Eastern tinged black metal just seems like bloodthirsty warriors trying to have a soiree in a roving jazzy night club act traveling through the sandy deserts of Saudi Arabia on the way to Mecca.

Side quips aside ÆTHERIA CONSCIENTIA doesn't deliver a compelling style of black metal that really sounds that different from about a million other bands that have emerged in the last couple decades with a rather generic chord progression run and what often sounds like an over polished production job which favors the smoothness of the jazz and Arabic flavors rather than emphasizing the nasty nature of the black metal. I don't know. This band has its following and it's not a horrible effort by any means, in fact it's actually intriguing how they piecemealed it all together in logical manner that doesn't sound terribly stilted but at the same time the entire shebang just doesn't feel as developed as it could be with many loose ends needed to be tied up before launching the rocket ship to Mars. A bit more diversity in the riffing department with more emphasis on more interesting songwriting would go a long way.

While i'm always a fan of experimental metal that boldly goes where no headbangers have gone before, sometimes we have to admit that certain experiments just don't jive as well as we'd like especially when basic songwriting techniques are abandoned in favor of gimmicky hybridization effects that could have worked well in the proper context but lack the vision to place them there. That is the problem i have with THE BLOSSOMING and ÆTHERIA CONSCIENTIA itself for that matter. I can't put my finger on it but beneath all the bells and whistles of the jazzy side streaming and Arabic excursions onto the world's playground lies a rather generic and uninventive black metal band that hadn't mastered its basic premise before decorating it with accessories. A decent album even if i don't find it ridiculously exciting.

3.5 rounded down