Catchy, brutal, and precise. Maybe too much precision. Is that a problem? Well it depends, if it's your main concentration, sacrificing technique and distinctiveness then yes I'm afraid so. I'm only referring to one individual, the rest were interesting and wrote creative structures to accompany an evil album. Eeny Meeny Miny Moe, digging its grave it's the drummer that has become known. That was cheesy but he followed suit. The ironic thing is Arttu Malkki is the original drummer of AEON however this is the first full-length with him on it. Why did Nils Fjellstrom have to leave? Or at least AEON could've gone with someone else. Whatever the case, things happened as they did. Fjellstrom is in other projects right now (DARK FUNERAL, etc.) so he's not without a band. Arttu Malkki had the perfect studio sound but as far as having his own style, he fell short. I mean it could have been his style but it was dull and unoriginal. Drumming sounded like a second-rate Paul Mazurkiewicz. I'm not even a fan of Mazurkiewicz's modern drumming style I also think it's dull and uninspiring. If you enjoy Paul's drumming in records such as "Evisceration Plague" and "Torture" by all means disregard by opinion. I personally don't like it.

If you are still here and reading let's not forget it's not a complete failure. Drumming for me was uninhabitable but shifting to a depressive to a more enlightened mood let's talk a little about the good things. This album to me felt like a movie with all the instrumentals. I honestly wish there was a few more. One of the instrumentals, "The Voice of the Accuser" completely caught me off guard. It's almost like hearing MORBID ANGEL's "Blessed Are The Sick" for the very first time and as you're listening you run into the track, "Desolate Ways". There you come to the realization that Death Metal is much more than the typical stereotypes associated with the genre. Still though when I read the title of the song, "The Voice of the Accuser", I did not expect the simple beauty I heard. The accuser I'd expect would have a vile and grotesque personality. A voice can mislead one's judgment. Even though you wouldn't in the least expect it, the one who appears innocent and gentle can have a foul persona in the depths of their soul and vice-versa. This song shows that parallel universe living within some people and misconstrued perceptions.

The vocals were interesting, the layered or backing vocals giving you the illusion of someone desperately burning in the realm of hell. It reminded me of DEICIDE and NILE. The guitar work was promising, it's catchy and enjoyable. Fans of HATE ETERNAL, CANNIBAL CORPSE, and "Domination" era MORBID ANGEL should give this album a shot. I was quite satisfied with the solos, how refreshing the tone was and the creative paths they took. This was a damned piece of work but the solos weren't a random arrangement of brutal incoherence. They took the time to build and construct them in a display of sheer brutality but at the same time painting a grand landscape, putting the corpses only where they needed to be and being elegant songwriters.

"Aeons Black" could've easily been a dignified piece of work but in regards to the drummer, overall it sounded like a watered-down CANNIBAL CORPSE/HATE ETERNAL album. Every musician counts, you can't hide or play it safe. A band can get annoying if four members are working their backs off only to be slugged by one mediocre musician. Regardless this had so much potential. Better luck next time.