From Bandcamp, “The Profane Era" captures AEONYZHAR's evolution, delivering a dynamic mix of haunting melodies, relentless riffs and atmospheric depth. The album explores profound themes of defiance, existential rebellion and the clash between the sacred and the profane. Each track weaves a narrative of inner conflict and enlightenment, making it both aggressive and thought-provoking.” The album has ten songs, and “A New Age of Enlightenment” is first; a short introduction to the album, consisting mostly of dark and brooding symphonic elements. “I Spit in the Face of Forgiveness” is the first track with vocals. It roars out of the gate with what sounds like an M-60 machine gun blasting through bodies. The vocals are filthy, throaty, and rage-fueled, and the music is complicated, but also very accessible.

“Hymn of the Golden Age” is where intricate compositions meet the four-headed beast of aggression, and it comes out polished, not clean, and very filthy. The riffs are indeed relentless, coming at you like a swarm of killer bees and not letting up. “Divine Hybrid Euphoria” highlights some of the band’s wizardry when it comes to the symphonic elements, but it still doesn’t shy away from the aggressive backbone. I get shades of DIMMU BORGIR here, but not quite as bombastic. Those thick, throaty vocals are definitely one of the best parts of the album for me. “The Profane Era” has a slower pace, and you can really hear the intricacies of the composition. The aggression is still there, in a primal form, but the symphonic elements bring a blackness to the song that is as dark as the sky.

“Proclamation” is a short song that has a recorded voice who speaks prophetically, and straightforwardly. “Above all, we will not serve” he ends emphatically. “Illuminate” has rich, dark symphonic elements mixed into the terrible stew. When you first taste it, it has a sweet palate, but the longer you eat it, the more you are poisoned. “Dystopia” has a swinging groove and even some keyboards, and this band is pulling out all of the stops. Like the title, it seems a bit disjointed at first, but it all comes together by the end. “Non Seviam” closes the album, and it means “I will not serve,” harkening back to the spoken words in a previous song. It has a combination of cavernous sounds that have no bottom, with a pleading aggression that is unusual…almost a last gasp of air from the Devil himself.

On “The Profane Era,” AEONYZHAR welds together Black and Symphonic Metal in molten fury and chilling grace. What emerges is not a compromise between two extremes, but a fully realized third form: music that is both violent and regal, savage yet exquisitely composed. In the end, the listener is left not with catharsis, but with reverence. This is the sound of a band in full command of its dual nature, crafting music that walks the line between ruin and rapture, and invites you to kneel at both altars.