Black Lotus Records. Now that's a name you'll definitely be hearing for many years to come. Swedish act Altered Aeon belong to the Greek record label's expanding roster and Dispiritism is their debut album. So, let's take a quick dive into the band's music and see what the doc's been cookin' (what doc? Dr. Shredneedle of course...).
Altered Aeon was formed in 2001 when Henrik Ohlsson (Theory In Practise, Mutant) presented a bunch of songs to Kjell Andersson (Azotic Reign), but back then the band was called Thrawn. In 2002 Niklas Rehn was added to the lineup and in 2003 the band entered the Black Lounge studio and recorded four tracks for a demo that was to be entitled Light Creates Shadows. Per Nilsson was also recruited by Henrik and he contributed some amazing solos and the whole thing was produced by Jonas Kjellgren - owner of Black Lounge and member of Carnal Forge, Centinex etc. This demo was the band's ticket to signing a three-album deal with Greek Black Lotus Records in 2003. During the recordings of their debut album, Dispiritism, they decided it was time to change from Thrawn to Altered Aeon.
One of the things Swedish musicians are commonly known for is their high-level education when it comes to music. Inevitably (most of the times) with education comes technique and with technique comes some really interesting playing! What we've got here is a band playing something of progressive aura running between Thrash and Death Metal combined with some Heavy Metal slowdowns. To be more specific: take Nevermore, good old Death (and Control Denied) and maybe an ounce of Slayer, Exodus and maybe Pantera...and blend all these things in Dr. Shredneedle's huge cookin' pot. There you go...Altered Aeon.
Are they as technical as they sound? Yes. Are they as profound as it sounds they are? Well, I don't know if what I'm listening to is THAT profound but it does emit a certain amount of interest towards my ears though generally I'm not really fond of bands that sort of sound like Nevermore (but I do dig Control Denied) in any way - not meaning that Nevermore suck (it's just my personal opinion). Fast drum shredding tempos with sudden stops and changes in the rhythm's structure with vocals which will remind you at times those of Warrel Dane (Nevermore) or Tim Aymar (Control Denied, Pharaoh, Psycho Scream and Vicious Cycle). Altered Aeon are no doubt a powerful musical scheme but I fear that this kind of Metal can really be heard only by a specific group of metalheads. Why? Because on one hand their music is fast thrashing, head-pounding and breath-taking and on the other hand you've got all this progressive playing involved in it which a lot of death-sters and thrash-ers would find a bit tiring maybe. It always depends on how open minded you are towards music done in the vein of Control Denied or Nevermore.
Fact is that these guys know how to play, that's for sure. I hope they make their way on the bills of 2005's Metal festivals going on around the globe because it would surely be interesting to see the crowd's reaction to this band. They've got my thumbs up, that's for sure...