Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

We don’t need to enter the great works of fiction and musical fantasy to find that the modern world is one in which the land is fractured, the place where evil and light do constant battle, Queen spoke of the Ogre Battles and the dominion of the Black Queen, Tolkien opened the eyes of millions to Mordor, and yet for Italian Metal Band Aetherna the imagery is subtler, refined, an memory of ache and the concern for the future of our own take on reality; the Gothic/Hard Metal touch of Darkness Land is all consuming.

Atmosphere can lend credence to any subject but it the right hands it becomes something more, a fight, a struggle arguably with existence itself and one that allows the pain of the world to vocally project itself onto the conscious of the listener and reap the rewards of the passion in the act that follows.   In the atmosphere provided by the intense and resistance imploring vocal of Germana Noage and the defining music application of Vincenzo Zappatore, Vittorio Flumeri, Marco Di Marco and Luigi Lesu what becomes clear is the physical artistry, the allusion to the Progressive but also the appreciation of the damnation that scowls at the darkness and offers redemption to those willing to seek the sword of flame and justice.

Dark chords and melody will only get you so far, the Progressive demands and the Metal insists on the willingness to hand yourself over entirely to the dream quality provided, and in the tracks Event Horizon, Sounds From Nowhere, Devil’s Lullaby, Overdream, Lord Of Sin, the album’s title track, Darkness Land, and in the initially odd choice, but performed with wonderful dramatic tension, the finale which encompasses Duran Duran’s The Chauffeur, Aetherna take the heartbeat of the genre and make it stronger, the injected pace, timing, the rarefied sense of memory and warning and serve it up as a glorious feast for the senses, dark metal, dark magic, call it what you will, it works.

Darkness Land is more than a congratulation note from the genre, it is symbolic reaching out to the masses to see the madness of the world and to have nothing to do with it, to fight with all at their disposal and create something beautiful.

Ian D. Hall