Kev Rowland There are some types of music that are almost impossible to describe, and when you put it into words and then look back at what is on the page can only think that it really doesn’t sound like that at all. I mean, what can you say about music that is a combination of improvised jazz, trance, doom, New Age, sludge and the kitchen sink? To say that this contains a brooding atmosphere is like saying a hurricane is a bit windy. It is oppressive yet inviting, hard to understand yet simplistic, dark and heavy yet light and meaningful. It is music to play late at night and get quietly drunk to while sat looking at the stars. It is all about self inspection and study as opposed to be the life soul of the party. In many ways it is quite depressing and should carry a health warning. I can’t imagine that anyone can say that they enjoy playing this, I’m sure I can’t, but I do know that I personally gained a great deal from doing just that. Here finally is an album for those who think that Tolstoy is quick read. These layers take a lot of work to fathom out, but it is definitely worth the effort. www.auralmusic.com

UMUR "Aeon" is the 2nd full-length studio album by Italian post metal act Mondrian Oak. The album was released through Eibon Records in February 2012. Mondrian Oak was formed in 2007 and they released their debut full-length studio album "Through Early Seed" in 2009. The band consists of two guitarists, a drummer and a bassist.

The album features 7 tracks of instrumental and atmospheric post metal. Sometimes heavy and doomy and sometimes more mellow and atmospheric. The band play a type of post metal which involves a lot of repetition and while that approach works well for the most part, some of the more ambient repetitive parts drag for too long. One of the assets of the album is how dynamic the music is. The contrast between the heavier and the more low volume parts paired with the dark and melancholic atmosphere is successful to my ears. The organic sound production only enhances the listening experience further.

...here and there I do find that I miss a vocalist, but it´s not a major issue and probably an aquired taste. I just feel that some parts scream for vocals.

"Aeon" is overall a very intriguing listening experience and a quality product too. A 3.5 star (75%) rating is fully deserved.

adg211288 Aeon is the second full-length album from Italian instrumental sludge/post-metal act Mondrian Oak. The album was released in 2012 and features seven tracks, all of which are named as simply 1 through to 7. Apart from 1 and 4 they’re all pretty long compositions, with 2 and 6 passing the ten minute mark.

The music we have here is heavy yet atmospheric. With no vocals at all the instruments are used to great effect in the place of a singer in order to give each of the seven tracks its own individual mood and the different sections are delivered emotively from each instrument. Although classable under post-metal with a sludge metal aspect to it I imagine that the release would also be at home with doom and drone metal albums, although there is a lot more going on than with much of the drone stuff I’ve heard, the music does often share some of the same qualities. 4 is a good example of that.

As with any instrumental release this is going to have a niche market but perhaps even more of a niche market than most since it is in no way a shred release as per Steve Vai, John Petrucci et al. There’s only one aspect to the music that I think is really going to be the selling point for it, and that’s its atmosphere, because what we’ve got here is something darkly haunting. Calling it a scary atmosphere wouldn’t be wrong either since I can easily imgaine some of this stuff as a sound track to a horror film. In this sense the fact that it’s instrumental is irrelevant. I’d actually say the lack of vocals is to the complete benefit of this sort of music as it allows you to become totally engrossed in the atmosphere that Mondrian Oak has created.

All in all Aeon is an enjoyable release that comes recommendable to fans of post, sludge, doom and drone metal. I couldn’t listen to an album in this vein very often, but even so I think a highish end rating is easily deserved as I think to metal fans more into these styles than I am will lap this one up. Mondrian Oak doesn’t appear to be very well known yet, but if this album is anything to go by that should change.

8.0/10

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org))

Time Signature Aeon...

Genre: sludge/post metal

Mondrian Oak are back and ready to take you on a journey through a soundscape of darkness and heaviness.

On "Aeon", Mondrian Oak deliver crushingly heavy, yet expressive and strangely haunting, sludged-up post metal, whose heavy beats and sludgy riffage, in conjunction with atmospheric breakdowns and softer passages, are bound to bring the listener into a trance-like state. Being one hundred percent instrumental, there are vocals or no lyrics to distract you. There is only a heavy bass, heavy but mildly distorted guitars, and big booming drums to paint your day black with musical bleakness - which is especially well captures in '6'.

For a sludge release, then, Aeon is definitely successful. It is very expressive and doom-laden, still with a feel of dark psychedelia. While there is a bit of noise-inspiration and dissonance every now and then, Aeon is perhaps more friendly towards listeners who are not familiar with the more experimental branches of sludge music, and might even prove to be a good entry point into the genre. Fans of doom metal might also appreciate this album for the very heavy and slow beats that it features.

(review oroginally posted at seaoftranquility.org)