AEONS IN SOLITUDE are a Gothic/Doom Metal band from Athens, Greece.  "Mourning Cloak" is their debut full length.  I wanted to like this album more than I did. I hate it when I don't like a band's first release. Obviously, it is something they worked hard for and are no doubt proud of. I'm also a firm believer that bands don't make bad albums on purpose. But I must be honest.

This album is rather average. It certainly isn't terrible, but I'll never listen to it again after this review is done. There isn't one big thing that doesn't work but several small aspects that add up to a dull experience. The vocalist uses mostly cleans. Every now and then I can hear some Death growls, but they are half-hearted at best and kind of buried in the background. The first track, "The White Witch" is an example of this. Those random growls during the chorus just sound out of place.

The cleans are decent and most of the time they are of a deeper Gothic vibe. Unfortunately, sometimes his voice gets a bit middle of the road and sounds like any random radio hard rock band.  It makes for an uneven experience and pulls me out of the music. "The Beast Within" sounds like exactly that especially the cumbersome chorus.

The music suffers in much of the same way. Some of the longer tracks really don't go anywhere—-I found myself wondering exactly what happened in the song. Not a good thing to be asking yourself after a song ends. The music jumps from Gothic doom to bland riffs at a moment's notice much like the vocals. "Until The End" is one such song...over six minutes long but nothing actually happens within that time frame that was very interesting.

It seems the band wanted to play a more accessible version of Doom but couldn't find the balance needed to pull it off. There are some bright moments though. When everything works, it works well. "The Innocent Abandoned" nails down a strong Gothic vibe and the riffs are thicker and more vibrant than what came before. Despite the growls, the opening track "The White Witch" is pretty strong. One of the later tracks, "Phantoms In The Mirror" also has hints of greatness between the clean guitar and heavy riffs and the sudden tempo change was a nice touch as is the melodic guitar that follows.

Ultimately, this album just wasn't very interesting to me especially with all the other great Doom it has for competition this year. But I hope this band, who are talented, can release a more focused effort soon.