AEONS OF ASHES are a a very-recently-formed Melodic Death Metal act from Sankt Pölten, Austria, founded in 2013. The band make their debut on their journey of Mordern Melodeath by this album, simply named "Shutdown", released via Noisehead Records.

Consisting of eleven  track of approximately three-minutes each, the album feels utterly insipid. It displays, right away, the band's technically-driven style. Just like the myriad of newcoming modern bands popping up everyday within this subgenre, it's not hard to tell from the first track  after the (quite deceptive) intro that the sound kind of borders on Metalcore.  Needless to say that the band's play is quite too technical and devoid of any "edginess". In other words, it's just a combination of riffs thrown in there for the sake of it. What bothers me the most is the vocals, making every track a burdensome chore to get through. The production, very neat and polished, served to enhance the uncharacteristic sound of the band that doesn't deliver anything to make it stand out of the lot.

Of course, truth be told, the guitarists Jorgo, Carl, Georg and Markus  showcased impeccable musicianship, yet the problem with this record is that it's utterly tasteless. The flat vocal performance only made everything worse.

I would definitely not recommend this to any Melodic Death Metal fan. I'm not quite fond of this concept of "Modern Melodeath" (I don't even like the sound of this) and AEONS OF ASHES have provided nothing in their debut album "Shutdown" to change that. Another talent goes down the drain.