Rating: 7.7/10
Release: 27 March 2020
Label: Independent

Staring with a beautiful cover a bit different in the style from previous albums, but with wonderful art, this Canadian band -with members and influences from Morocco- brings us ‘Al Qassam’ (The Oath) a full length of 9 tracks with an atmosphere of mystery and oriental shades together with a very well worked metal style and impeccable execution.

The world’s topicality that has kept many of us a lot of time in our homes, gives us the opportunity to listen to and enjoy this album from start to finish, being the fourth of Aeternam, it makes a combination of folk melodies, with death metal and some symphonic touches that make their songs very enjoyable.

The variety of sounds is visible throughout the album, where some of their songs at first impression may seem from different bands, but little by little they show us that this well-kept mix is a personal stamp that the band prints for the pleasure of our ears. The rich traditional sounds of songs like ‘Ithyphallic Spirits of Procreation’ or ‘Celestial Plains’ are the perfect prelude to a well-developed voice for this genre, a voice that the production has adequately managed to make it stand out enough without taking away protagonism to other instruments.

‘Palmyra Scriptures’ slightly reduced for me the energetic momentum from the previous song but did not leave a bad impression, and it has the collaboration of Kobi Farhi, lead singer of Orphaned Land.

Finally, it must be mentioned that ‘Al Qassam’ and ‘Lunar Ceremony’ already have official video available, so that you can appreciate the band, but above that, you can see -in ‘Al Qassam’- real demon-summoning objects from Egyptian grimoire.

I must confess that I did not know the band, but with this album, the desire to listen to their previous albums was born. A perfect plan nowadays, knowing great new bands and listening to their complete records. Stay safe!

Tracklist

1. Al Qassam
2. The Bringer of Rain
3. Lunar Ceremony
4. Ithyphallic Spirits of Procreation
5. Palmyra Scriptures (ft. Kobi Farhi)
6. Hanan Pacha
7. Celestial Plains
8. Ascension
9. Poena Universi