As a metalhead, there have been situations when a certain group or release is like the sun: everything mindlessly revolves around it. And sure enough, all the hype the subject gathered was just a bucket of feces because of the inability to live up to any press, much like Aeon. Formed by a group of crazy Swedes, Aeon has been hailed as the frontrunners in death metal due to their sheer brutality. Intrigued by this label, I picked up Aeon’s Rise to Dominate with the expectations of a revolutionary band. Sadly, that wasn’t the case, because this is as generic and boring as death metal can get.There’s just one specific idea hovering over Aeon and their second record: be brutal, and nothing else. Of course, this pseudo-ideology is predictably applied by simple riffs, relentless blastbeats, and low growls; however, this is the only musical front on Rise to Dominate. Really, the brutalized scene is cool at first, but the redundancy soon kicks in and hurts like a bitch. It’s a lot like Cannibal Corpse, but with mindless blastbeats, constant repetition, and twelve tracks that all sound the same; quite an irritating experience.
Still, Aeon’s image as an over-the-top Satanism squad acts as a deadly toxin that slowly drags the suffering effort into the grave. During his failed attempts to sound like a real growler, vocalist Tommy Dahlström spits out a collection of stupid and adolescent-like lyrics focusing around killing Jesus, but with no poetic attempt at all. Honestly, it’s just a total abomination throughout; definitely the most childish stuff anyone could imagine. Now add the stupid Satanic image with Aeon’s musical clichés, and you have one terrible release not worth a second of anyone’s time.
In closing, Rise to Dominate is basically the rehashed spiel of generic death metal you’d expect from any second-rate group, and not living up to any hype in the mean time. There certainly isn’t a problem with being brutal as f*ck, but it becomes an issue when that’s all there is to a band’s music, hence Aeon’s one-dimensional stance on metal. Death metal fans will definitely be able to function without Rise to Dominate, and most will probably be glad they bought something else instead of Aeon’s sophomore slump.