Review: Aeternam – Heir of the Rising Sun

Style: Symphonic/Folk Melodeath (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Orphaned Land, Septicflesh
Review by: Andy
Country: Canada
Release date: 2 September, 2022

Volley after volley of cannon-fire barrages the impenetrable walls of the Queen of Cities while Damianus, now deeply shaken, stands atop the battlements with quiver in hand. He quickly offers a prayer to Our Lady of Perpetual Help before loosing another shaft down at the besiegers below. As dust enters the air–obstructing his vision to that of a bat hunting its prey, drunkenly flying around the night sky until accidentally stumbling into a sumptuous bug–Damianus shoots again, missing the Ottoman figure who mans the cannon, inches to the left. In a panic Damanius is forced to make a choice: Should I stay and abandon the land of my ancestors, or should I fight and die? Moments after his decision on that spot where Damanius chooses to remain, the next unwieldy cannonball hits, tearing him limb from limb and shattering his bones. Damianus’ final thoughts were of the blessed Mary. Why did she ignore his final plea? Perhaps God willed the fall of the empire. All around the city of Constantinople, the same picture materializes at once during the breaking point of the siege. The Ottomans at last run into the unconquerable city, claiming Hagia Sophia and all the riches of Nova Roma. 

“The Fall of Constantinople” concludes Aeternam’s fifth album in epic fashion, chronicling the ending of the (Eastern) Roman Empire. To ascend to such a historical and musical climax, Aeternam utilize Septicflesh-like deep growls and cinematic symphonics with Wilderun’s penchant for euphoria-inducing musical moments and Evan Berry’s clean vocals–all atop Orphaned Land’s timeless storytelling and folksy flourishes. However, to understand the context better, the listener is transported back one hundred and seventy-three years to Osman I’s founding of the Ottoman Empire, which the band relays via spoken word–unfortunately since the spoken segments are the weakest element across the album. The band’s storytelling and concept rivals that of Gorguts on Pleiades’ Dust or previously mentioned Orphaned Land’s Mabool, so having my hand held as a listener feels superfluous.

The music across Heir of the Rising Sun achieves peaks unreached by Aeternam prior to this album despite an incredibly strong discography. In between the solid melodeath riffs, MENA(Middle Eastern/North African) influenced guitar leads triumphantly showcase the pride of the Ottomans (and that of the Byzantines seemingly secure in their Queen of Cities), slowly building their strength to overtake Constantinople. Each track’s highlights only grow in intensity as the 29th of May, 1453, inches closer. Take “Beneath the Nightfall” and “Where the River Bends,” which both sound like Al Qassam if that album were injected with furious, spiralling black metal segments. Other tracks like “Nova Roma”–with its sublime and triumphant main guitar melody–also sound like an amplified Al Qassam; take that album’s finale, “Poena Universi” which enhanced the band’s ability to write grandiloquent tracks, fueled by choirs and orchestra. Yet every track on Heir of the Rising Sun feels as capable as “Poena Universi” in their extravagance–if not more so. The lyrics are sung in four languages for crying out loud. Aeternam aren’t messing around.

Heir of the Rising Sun showcases a new Aeternam, composing an album that flows and dances like a river nymph. Epic choral arrangements and bombastic orchestrations are a songwriting technique that will never go out of vogue, and the band’s proficiency at composing tasteful orchestrations now rivals Wilderun; for example, “The Treacherous Hunt” somehow effortlessly mashes together Gregorian chant with a maelstromic symphonic black metal structure. The only possible thing to make the track (and album) sound more bold and exciting would be a punchier drum sound: Everything else in the production is well-balanced, the guitars and orchestration perfectly melding with each other while the alternating devastating harsh vocals and refined cleans sit right atop it all. 

As Damianus’ story alluded to, however, this album certainly saves the best for last to allow for both an amazing narrative and musical climax. Bold melodies meld with staccato-driven riffs and drums–together like cannonfire–become the Ottoman’s assault on the city: These lead to a heroic guitar riff around halfway through, the point-of-view of a Byzantine soldier being highlighted. Deciding whether to run or stay and die in his city, he laments and decides, “If the will of God is the city must fall on this night / I shall fall at the side of the warriors who gave up their life.” In the album’s most intense thematic moments, the bold cleans of our soldier are layered with powerful harsh vocals in a way that can best be described as sonically overwhelming: Imagine the channel-switching ending of “Recharging the Void” by Vektor. To do justice to (arguably) one of the most significant battles in history would require a simply stunning track, and Aeternam exceeded even that bar. “The Fall of Constantinople” will be a defining melodeath track of this decade. 

Writing what I can confidently entitle “the Mabool of the 20s” requires a perfect blend of MENA folk melodeath and peak storytelling ability, both of which this album has in spades. The emotional cleans which pepper the landscape like artillery against an impassable wall–along with the conquering guitar melodies–remain barbed in my head. Heir of the Rising Sun beautifully and robustly tackles one of history’s most important dates, signaling the end of the Middle Ages: Aeternam have reached a whole new plane, more confident and focused than ever before, Heir of the Rising Sun a melodeath masterpiece. 

Recommended tracks: Irene, Nova Roma, Where the River Bends, The Treacherous Hunt, The Fall of Constantinople 
You may also like: Subterranean Masquerade, Wilderun
Final verdict: 9/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | YouTube | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page
Label: Independent

Aeternam is:
– Antoine Guertin (drums, percussion, vocals, samples)
– Achraf Loudiy (vocals, guitars)
– Mathieu Roy-Lortie (lead guitars)
– Valerie Hartzell (classical guitar, track 10)
– Hubert Gonthier Blouin (bass)