ÆTHER REALM — One Chosen by the Gods (review)

ÆTHER REALM — One Chosen by the Gods album cover

Album · 2013 · Melodic Death Metal

3.5/5 · 2013-01-22
adg211288

One Chosen by the Gods is the debut full-length album by US metal act Æther Realm. The 2013 album is the band’s second major release following the 2011 two track EP Odin Will Provide. The tracks from this EP are also included on One Chosen by the Gods.

Æther Realm artwork on both releases so far cuts a certain image, one that says ‘we play folk metal’. This is mirrored in most of their song titles which easily give away a penchant for themes prevalent in the genre, with examples of those titles being Oak, Ravensong, Odin Will Provide, Swampwitch and of course the title track. Only on One Chosen by the Gods I find that Æther Realm are most definitely a case of not being what it says on the tin. While there are indeed some folk elements to be found here they are surprisingly light and often in the background and don’t appear across even half of the release. They are also very poorly executed and synthetic sounding for the most part, which makes me wish they were not there at all. On a more positive note the album also includes some elements of symphonic metal and power metal, which are much better executed. As a whole though, One Chosen by the Gods is a melodic death metal release.

Other than the folk elements, which generally spoil the album when they appear, One Chosen by the Gods is a competent release. Being a first full-length it isn’t any surprise to me that there’s a lot of room for Æther Realm to evolve and grow yet, but the potential for greatness, while not achieved this time around, is evident. At their best Æther Realm even remind me of Wintersun’s first album, when they combine power metal riffs with growling vocals. At their weakest they vaguely put me in mind of the sort of sound that bands like Wolfchant or Heathen Foray have utilised to great effect (although Wolfchant did it with black metal) only because their own folk element is lacking, Æther Realm doesn’t come across as being truly invested in the approach. All this said the bulk of the album sits in the middle of these two descriptions, being pretty much what you’d expect from a non-Gothenburg sound melodic-death metal act. Nothing particularly out of the ordinary, but as I said, it’s competent. Several of the tracks hint at better things to come, especially the title track and Winter's Grasp.

One Chosen by the Gods is the sort of album that appears to promise one thing, delivers it badly in a small measure, and then delivers something else better for the rest of the time. All in all this leaves me with very mixed feelings about the album so while I can’t honestly say it would be my first recommendation to anyone, I’m impressed enough with it to recognise that its well above average for the style. The fault with the folk elements is unfortunately glaringly obvious to me, otherwise I would easily have rated this one a little higher. In any case this is definitely an album you should be checking out if you like melodic death metal.

73/100

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org/aether-realm-one-chosen-by-the-gods-t2750.html))