Review: Æthĕrĭa Conscĭentĭa – Corrupted Pillars of Vanity

Style: Progressive Black Metal with Saxophone! (harsh vocals)
Review by: Dan
Country: France
Release date: 9 April, 2021

Much like hot sauce, saxophone makes everything – especially metal – just a little bit spicier. I’ve gone out of my way to find SAXTREME™ metal over the last few years, as I myself have dabbled a bit in the sax + metal combination, and honestly, I think it’s generally a recipe for success.

After by Ihsahn is one of my favorite albums of all time – the bleak atmospheres and squawky sax played by Jørgen Munkeby are second to none – but plenty of other artists like The Last of Lucy, Ever Forthright, Burial in the Sky, Névoa, and White Ward (whose sax player and vocalist both provide guest performances here on Corrupted Pillars of Vanity) have all effectively woven saxophones into their extreme metal compositions. The only time I’d argue that saxophone feels unnecessary is when it comes in abruptly like a guitar solo with no other context on an album, like Rivers of Nihil, TesseracT, and Intervals are all guilty of. It’s spicy, yes, but you probably don’t want to add hot sauce to your bowl of [insert sugary American breakfast cereal here].

In any case, there are numerous examples of saxophone used in metal to great effect. Does this sax-filled progressive black metal sophomore album by Æthĕrĭa Conscĭentĭa deserve to be added to this list?

The answer is an emphatic yes. Corrupted Pillars of Vanity is an excellent example of using saxophone as an essential compositional element within a dynamic and progressive black metal context.

The album begins with a slow build, showcasing a sound that is – at least initially – fairly similar to the band’s prior effort Tales From Hydhradh, but by the end of the final epic track, the band’s evolution is made clear: this album completely blows their moderately-regarded debut out of the water in every way. It’s bigger, bolder, jazzier, riffier… just better across the board.

The songs are lengthy post-metal inspired compositions, frequently barreling past the ten-minute mark without ever losing their focus. The builds are satisfying and effective, the riffs hit hard, the melodies are memorable, and the production is quite good. Saxophone is used to accent and compliment the melodic motifs within the lengthy, well-written songs, often playing parts that are more simplistic than many of the band’s showier peers, but this absolutely works to its advantage. The other unique dimension to the instrumentation of Corrupted Pillars of Vanity is the frequent use of extra percussion. Judging by the album credits, it seems as though the primary drums are programmed, but the layering of all kinds of hand percussion (and I’ll admit I’m not well versed enough in tablas and other hand drums to know exactly what they’re playing here) gives the tracks a phenomenally live feel – to the point where I would have never known the drums were programmed. The percussion is also used to often tribal effect, combined with chants and haunting atmospheres, to create some rather unique soundscapes.

The album art makes it pretty clear that Æthĕrĭa Conscĭentĭa has a story to tell here. And indeed they do. The concept of the album follows the Kholoss, an “ancient caste of ominous guardians” from origin to eventual enslavement. It’s something of a continuation of their prior album’s story, or at least a parallel storyline fleshing out another part of the same fictional universe. The songs are surprisingly wordy, with illustrative and well-written lyrics, but the vocals are not at all the focus of the music. They’re quite hard to discern, delivered in accented English, and layered fairly low in the mix. They add an excellent, harsh texture and are written and performed effectively with good variety between low gutturals and mid-upper throaty screams. The music is quite well balanced between instrumental passages and vocal-driven ones.

The guitars stay fairly safe, playing competent, riffy black metal during the heavier sections, but often mellowing out nicely with excellent and occasionally hypnotic atmospheres. They’re nice and tight, played quite competently but with little showiness. The bass rarely leaves the side of the guitars, but the overall presentation is nice and thick. When you can actually hear the bass, it’s got a nice, bright growl to it, but I think it frequently gets buried in the compositions and serves more as a sonic space thickener than an instrument demanding the listener’s focus. The drums are conservative and somewhat simplistic due to their programming, but they’re very well mixed and provide constant motion, matching the intensity of the various passages perfectly.

Each track is a fully engaging journey, thoughtfully composed and carefully constructed. The songs largely stand on their own, but the album is definitely best experienced in a single sitting. Melodies are often memorable, even if the sprawling and unpredictable structures are a bit harder to digest. There are intense stompy bits, there are mellow jazzy bits, there are blasty bits, ritualistic chants, and groovy riffs, big builds and phenomenal dynamics, rich instrumentation and diverse soundscapes. And while few specific moments are particularly mind-blowing, the album as a whole is far greater than the sum of its parts. Corrupted Pillars of Vanity is an outstanding, unique, and deliciously spicy album that claims a spot fairly high on the hierarchy of adventurous twists on black metal. Hot sauce is good.

Recommended tracks: all of them
Recommended for fans of: Névoa, White Ward, Blut Aus Nord, Oranssi Pazuzu, Katharos XIII, Khonsu, Mare Cognitum
Final verdict: 8/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page

Æthĕrĭa Conscĭentĭa is:
– Alexis Pascal (bass, atmosphere)
– Paul Breheret (drum programming, percussion, vocals, lyrics)
– P.A. Cantat (guitar, atmosphere)
– Tristan Brachi (guitar, vocals, lyrics)

Featuring:
– Simon Chatteleyn (saxophone, vocals, percussion, lyrics on all tracks)
– Andrii Pechatkin of White Ward (vocals on “Asporhos’ Altering Oddyssey”)
– Dima Dudko of White Ward (alto saxophone on “Elevation in Arrogance”)