A Canadian melodic death metal band with progressive tendencies, Skyless Aeons' newest record, Drain The Sun, displays a youthful band with a lot of promising skill and a strong sense of self-worth who have oriented themselves towards an unpredictable future. This unpredictable future is not, however, bleakness but perhaps something greater than is determinable currently. Nonetheless, Drain The Sun also is evident of youth, a lack of focus at times, and experimentation which, in more mature ears, likely would have been culled and placed in the bargain bin. Unfamiliar with the project as I initially was, I went back and explored their four-song 2016 EP, The Era of Famine. A noticeably jammy post-metalesque affair, the release featured the same lineup as appearing on Drain The Sun. Several listens later, the record didn't come across as particularly exceptional and having heard it upon release, I doubt I would have followed up with the project on my own terms.
Drain The Sun is definitely an improvement. Skyless Aeons have narrowed the project's aesthetics and expanded the sonic options in a progressive tendency which better marries the music with the lyrical content. The 2016 EP had thoughtful lyrics which concerned themselves with the human condition, the societal implications and tendencies of the human race, and other such philosophical quandries - all in a slightly incoherent abstract and unfocused structure; the music didn't seem to carry the same weight as the subject matter. For much of the EP, we were given a feather-weight and airy accompaniment due to the post-metal guitar tonality wed to bright ringing melodies. The Era of Famine has lighthearted melodic sentiment, similar almost to that of Jesu on Conquerer. This has changed with Drain The Sun. The musical component is far darker in production, tone, and melodic progressions. The jammy guitar movements are sharper and more aggressive. The lyrical content is better structured and more organized as well. The band has also culled the songs down from the roughly nine-minute average of their EP to under seven minutes. These are not small minor improvements, but major rewritings of songwriting habit for the betterment of the project.
Skyless Aeons almost lost me at the first track with the new record, though. "Ascension Towards Nothing" starts slowly, with subtle ebbing clean guitars and low moody bass underneath. Imagine the intro to Fates Warning's "Road Goes on Forever" or "The Eleventh Hour"; the dreary after-everyone-has-left and loneliness has returned atmosphere. The introduction builds nicely, slowly adding drum energy to the mix with cymbals and then tom rolls. At the natural place where the band could have (and should have) shifted into the full force of the song, they simply stop... scrape through a few more chords and then awkwardly, and almost sloppily, shift into a doomier, Cathedralesque riff destroying the immaculate intro's worth. Then the track uncomfortably changes again to a more modern death metal riff.... as if the first false start wasn't enough to piss me off. I turned off the album at that very second. It was just too many poor choices in a row. Off it stayed for a few days before I felt ready to try again.
"Ascension Towards Nothing" - now appropriately titled (maybe that was the point... but it was dumb) - ends practically moments later. "A Consciousness Decays" is awarded my skepticism and sourness as the following track and returns some hope and faith to me. An extremely well structured song that feels shorter than it is, it retains the progressive metal elements apparent in the opening track's intro, however marries them with strong death metal vocals by vocalist Nathan Ferreira and smooth and vivid transitions. The usage of a clean section here is not done amateurishly, giving bassist Steve Oliva an opportunity to stand out, even though his wooden bass tone is easy to discern throughout the songs. The guitar playing by Nicholas Luck is composed, well performed, and meticulously accurate but tonally, gritty enough to hide any temerity which otherwise might peak through.
This is followed by "Go Forth and Multiply" and it's obnoxiously groovy vocal rhythms. It is the album's shortest track by about three minutes. The vocals reek a tough-guy hardcore machismo personality which just saps my patience. Following the impressive display of the "A Consciousness Decays" which grabbed my attention and interest, it is a test of patience again to wait and find out if the track afterwards would elevate the band again. Perhaps being cognizant of the botchy opening of the record, Skyless Aeons pulls their shit together and offers four following tracks in a row which do not bother me. "Age of Regression" and "Dimensional Entrapment" rekindle the progressive elements while maintaining a dark and aggressive weight. The two songs are paired well. Following is "Paths of Desolation", a lighter experience, more of an experiment in guitar textures which reminds me of locals Lionel Pryor than anything else. Drain The Sun closes with the title track. As the opening bass motif is joined by guitars the song slips into some odd whispered vocal sections which make me shudder. The song's strongest moments, though begin with the slower melodically founded central core throughout the ringing culmination and closing.
For me, Drain The Sun, is inconsistent. There are some really good tracks and ideas like "A Consciousness Decays", "Paths of Desolation", and the second half of the title track. There are also clearly moments spread throughout that I could rate if not as blunders at best as clear mistakes in aesthetic continuity. The most maddening thing about Skyless Aeons is that they are on that cusp of either doing something entirely great or fumbling it all. I could see perhaps trying too hard to impress on the technicality end and lose the songs or go the other direction and write more accessible songs and lose their spark of experimentation on a follow up. The CD package is done professionally, and the cover art by Sam Nelson elevates the mature thematic content with reservation and grace. Drain The Sun doesn't put the next Skyless Aeons material too high on my priority list, but a subtle shift in the direction of old school styled melodic death metal ala At The Gates or Sear Bliss and away from modern sounding melodic death metal could be enough to tip my favor long term. A wisp of forlorn atmosphere would go the distance for Skyless Aeons.
