AEONS OF ASHES were formed in St. Pölten, Austria. The orchestral Death Metal outfit released so far four EPs and “The Wasteland Chronicles” are their second full-length album. It was recorded, mixed, and mastered by Norbert Leitner (AUTUMN BRIDE; OBSIDIAN CHAMBER; THEOTOXIN). The album has a length of almost 56 minutes, and it was released via Austrian label Running Wild Productions, which has a few Black and Death Metal bands among their current roster.

The album has a crushing start with “Ascendancy”: devastating guitar riffing, lots of double-bass drumming, and aggressive growling vocals which are around the medium to higher end of the guttural range. “Ascendancy” is a mid-tempo melodic Death Metal track with melancholy in the chorus melodies. It is a strong start to the album and it continues like that with “A Dormant Peril“, which is a track at a measured tempo with focusing even more on darkness and melancholy in the melodies. The album contains a few inter-ludes and pre-ludes, and “Chapter 3 – In The Hallway” is one of them. “Time Is A Lie” continues with the Death Metal attack at mid-tempo. The track is driven by the powerful guitar riffing and the relentless double-bass drumming. The melodies are grim and doom-laden, especially when the lead guitar contributions are more prominent. “Time Is A Lie” is the official video release, and the YouTube link is provided below.

After a tension-building pre-lude, the scenery is set for “The Alchemyst”. It has a slow, but spine-chilling, almost atmospheric start, transitioning into a fast Death Metal assault. While the verse parts are fast and aggressive, the chorus parts are at a measured tempo and have some epic melodies, where both vocalist’s contributions are very prominent. “Reqiuem” is introduced by a pre-lude. The track is a mixture of hammering mid-tempo parts and melancholic parts at a slow tempo. Highlight of the track is the two-parted break, where the first part is led by the guitars and clean spoken words, while the second part is very powerful and epic. Another pre-lude provides a good introduction to the crushing “Walk With Us”, which is driven by the higher growls, while the lower growls deliver an extra dimension to the track. The riffing is direct and, alongside the double-bass drumming, results in a very aggressive Death Metal sound. “Walk With Us” is one of the album highlights.

“F4v5t” is named after one of the guitarist’s initials, and it is another track at a measured tempo with the well-tried patterns of the album sound: simple and direct riffing, double-bass, and aggressive growls, mostly a combination of higher and lower growls during the verse parts, and more epic chorus parts with some melancholic features in the melodies. “F4v5t” is one of the few tracks with a short lead guitar solo. “The Awakening” has a slow and ballad-esque start driven by the guitars. It transitions soon into a mid-tempo verse part, followed by the chorus part at a measured tempo. The longer the album takes, the more repetitive becomes the overall sound of the songs. Differences in the tracks are subtle. I like the powerful riffing of “The Awakening”, while the chorus parts had similarities with some of the preceding tracks. “The Realisation” is introduced by a spoken word pre-lude. The track is a mixture of mid-tempo, a few fast parts, and measured tempo and there are many twists in rhythm. It is one of those tracks with more complexities in the textures and with some progressive vibes. “The Realisation” is the sibling of “SurRealisation”, not only in the title, but also in terms of the sound. The melodies of both tracks are spine-chilling, and this dark sound is intensified by a rare lead guitar contribution.

“Ring Of St0nes” has a crushing start once again with the thunderous riffing, the double-bass drumming, and both vocalists screaming straight out of the abyss. While the chorus parts are driven by the melancholic melodies at a measured tempo, the break starts with a fast hammering leading into a short but contributing lead guitar solos. “Ring Of St0nes” is another album highlight. After a final inter-lude, the album finishes with “The Night The Darkness Died” and this is a mixture of head-banging mid-tempo parts, and slower epic parts, whereas the melodies of the epic parts are probably the catchiest ones. All in all, “The Night The Darkness Died” is a very powerful track and a good end to the album.

I am not quite sure what to make out of “The Wasteland Chronicles”. AEONS OF ASHES deliver an album that is for me a melodic Death Metal album and I hear many features of good Scandinavian melodic Death Metal bands in the album sound. I am not sure, where the description orchestral Death Metal is coming from, at least I did not hear any prominent orchestrations in “The Wasteland Chronicles”. While I like the combination of the devastating and crushing Death Metal parts and the epic melancholic parts in general, I felt there was far too much repetition of those tracks on the album. The album is well produced. AEONS OF ASHES release a 21-track album, which is surely unusual in some aspects. “The Wasteland Chronicles” is an album for melodic Death Metal fans and I am sure that many of them will dig the album.