Review: Aeon Zen – Transversal

Style: traditional progressive metal, power metal (clean vocals)
Review by: Sam
Country: United Kingdom
Release date: 24 September, 2021

It’s not often that I review a band for this blog with a Wikipedia page. Let alone one that supported Devin Townsend on a 23-date European tour a decade ago. The wiki entry doesn’t say much beyond that, so clearly their popularity didn’t take off since then, but it’s worth noting nonetheless. However I’m not here to talk about the past. What matters is whether this album, or rather song (it’s one track split into ten parts), is any good. Given that my album of the year from last year was another half-our song in the classic prog metal style (courtesy of Hac San), I just had to take this one.

Of course, the first question anyone sane would ask in regards to a thirty minute song is about coherency. Fortunately, Transversal delivers. While the soloists wank gratuitously (I dare you to say that out of context), they always make sure that things remain grounded by keeping the solos relatively short and keeping the themes and motives used consistent. The experience of this band is apparent. They know precisely what they are good at and don’t ever overstep their boundaries. The band chemistry and technical performances are all very astute. It’s a well-produced affair too. Though I can’t say I heard much of the bass, the rest sounds fairly balanced and the dynamics are good. The record sounds professionally produced and packs a great punch sonically. 

But that said, coherency is one thing, but having good ideas is another. After all, what primarily attracts a listener to a band is the quality of their ideas. I wouldn’t say my mind was ever blown by this experience, but it released plenty of dopamine neurons to make me happy. So let’s examine the components that make Aeon Zen’s sound. At its core, this is classic prog metal with a slight power metal tinge: speedy but chunky riffs, big masculine vocals, but also lots of melodic solos and introspective softer sections. They overlay this with cinematic sounding orchestrations to make the song feel like watching a movie. The first few parts are mostly focused on these orchestrations. They start blissful and dreamy, but as the song progresses they become more dramatic and the regular keyboard play starts coming in. I like the patch choices a lot, going for a variety of spacy sounding synths, and otherwise regular piano (which has a great tone) during softer verses. The keyboard play is a highlight throughout this entire piece.

Another highlight of Transversal is the solos. It’s almost a moot point mentioning those in this style, but they’re very well done and succeed at adding to the momentum instead of taking away from it through sheer indulgence. There’s always something interesting going on underneath them as well. It’s impressive how grounded this record feels despite nearly every part having multiple solos. The second half especially is flooded with them. This band is great at keeping the tension up. Their riff-game reminds me a lot of recent DGM in how constantly balls to the walls they go, and their singer reminds me a lot of Mark Basile in terms of tone and delivery. There’s also a bunch of Symphony X vibes during the more technical parts, and in Part VI they go full on worship with diddly diddly neoclassical solos that sound straight out of The Divine Wings of Tragedy (compare with “The Witching Hour”). 

This aspect of wearing influences on their sleeve comes with a price however. Now I’m not one to criticize for a lack of originality as quality is always my main concern, but when you invite close comparisons to established groups with your sound, you have to make sure that either you succeed majorly at an aspect where they do not, or you must be plain better than them at what they do. And you see, surpassing Symphony X at their own game is a pretty tall order. I don’t exactly blame Aeon Zen for failing at this given the impossibility of that task, but I can’t go and give them an upper echelon score for it either. Similarly the riffs certainly are good, but they don’t match the intensity of DGM’s, and though the singer has solid range and power, there have been many in this genre who can do what he can do and more. I think the overall package succeeds at carving out its own identity (mostly thanks to the orchestrations), but the individual elements have all been done bigger and better before. 

Overall though, Transversal is a record I enjoyed a lot to dive into for this review. This band sticks closely to defined genre tropes, and does them well. They tie it all together into a fun cohesive experience that flies by. Unlike last year’s half-hour song Hon Trang Mau, this won’t be my album of the year by any means as they tend to get outshone in the individual elements by other bands, but it’s a hella fun experience nonetheless and I recommend any prog/power fan to listen to it at least once.

Recommended tracks: it’s one song (though Part VII is pretty nice standalone)
Recommended for fans of: Symphony X, DGM, Circus Maximus, Dream Theater
You may also like: Alhambra, Lost in Thought, Sentire, Hac San
Final verdict: 7.5/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Twitter | Metal-Archives page

Label: Independent

Aeon Zen is:
– Rich Gray (bass, guitars, synths, vocals, programming)
– Andi Kravljača (vocals)
– Alistair Bell (lead guitars)