City of Shadows

Going into this, I’ll admit to not really knowing much, if anything, about this Aonia act. Reportedly, they are a metal act out of Britain with a flair for the operatic and mythical. Already I’m sure some folks out there may end up dashing past without so much as a foreglance, and that may end up being their loss in the end as those of us who have the balls to listen to anything and everything that comes our way, even just out of pure curiosity, the unknown yet sweetest fruit is always there, ripe and ready for the pickin’. I sure hope that analogy makes some kind of sense…

In terms of its album art and general musical tone, Aonia is shooting for a heavily mythological form of power metal with a gothic rock foundation that lays into the melodic end of things pretty well, sounding a bit like mid-era Nightwish but still an original take on things. For a seemingly independent release, the production has a good amount of gloss to it (it could’ve easily sounded worse) that plays on the strengths of each individual’s instrumental approach, and outside of some missed counts and timing, the group seems to really know what they’re doing. The guitars have a serious bite to them, the keyboards give the album a more ethereal vibe versus having strings and choirs shoved right into your face, and the lead vocalist couples an operatic niceness with a more abrasive chanting approach that flits from octave to octave cleanly without any off-key vibratos or one-side leaning warbling that could ruin the flow of things (though there are times, when her voice goes too high, that things go a bit all over the place, but that doesn’t happen too often). This all comes together for a fine collection of atmospheric metal hymns with the charm of the out-of-pocket musicians who don’t have all that dirty label money to overprocess their record to plasticy Hell.

That being said, though, while this album does show ability and craft, there’s not a whole lot of originality, I’m afraid. The whole operatic power metal thing has been done before, both by groups that would be necessary in the end and those who just couldn’t cut the mustard, and is still a driving force in some parts of Europe and after so many years it would be hard to make that star shine as bright as can be again. That’s not to knock these guys and gal; the sky is theirs to conquer given enough time and chops-tightening. And while this is a fine listen in and of itself, the chance does exist that they could really storm the proverbial tower and kick us jaded metal folk in the nuts violently enough to take notice and bow our heads in appreciation (maybe not reverence, but you know where I’m coming from). But we all start somewhere; even the best metal acts out there had first-run recordings that only did them so much justice, and songs like “Gift of the Curse”, “Down the Rabbit Hole” and “Liberate Mae” have plenty to showcase in the end despite the limiting appeal.

At the end of the day, Aonia’s debut is fairly good and has plenty to show, but only so much. Discerning power metal folk will no doubt give this group as much attention as they could, and maybe even some casual forest-dwellers will chime in. But time will be the ultimate bastard saint for these fellas, and I’d really like to see how far you’ll go.