review by: Roberto Martinelli

Aeturnus has gotten infinitely more bland and boring. You could feel them starting to go down that road on their previous album, Shadows of Old, which, although being a great album, started to give hints of how Aeturnus was starting to go in an uninteresting death metal direction.

Although it album was (in part) produced by Pytten, Ascension of Terror bears none of the unorthodox values and endearing flaws that a classic Pytten record has. Instead, everything on Ascension of Terror is very sterile. Heavy and brutal, yes, but sterile. As on Shadows of Old, Aeturnus continues to trigger its drums to an even less organic feel than before. This makes the songs on Ascension of Terror sound more samey.

It's obvious that the Aeturnus boys (who are now without their original bassist, Morrigan, who is outrageously not pictured on the album and credited only on one small line. Was she dissatisfied with the new direction things were going in?) have been listening to too much US brutal death. The track "Ascension of Terror" features those generally annoying squealie things that certain US death metal bands put at the end of their riffs. This song is completely terrible. It's entirely ridiculous to hear the godly drone that Aeturnus set as its trademark replaced by such duh-duh elements.

Looking at the album objectively, and not as a huge Aeturnus fan, Ascension of Terror is better than average material. The drumming is very solid, with an ironman fortitude, and the vocals are good. There are some decent riffs, too. And yes, there are some good songs. The best of the bunch is "Burning the Shroud," which unfortunately also appears on the MCD by the same name released earlier in 2001. That song has memorable hooks and an excellent drumming and rhythm section. (it seems that Hammerheart wanted us to believe "Warlust" is the best song. Why else would it be printed so fucking BIG on the back of the CD?) Unfortunately, the new Aeturnus has its best hopes of appealing precisely to those who aren't long time Aeturnus fans.

In the interview with Aeturnus (in issue #2), Ares explains how the band was going to explore a "thrash direction" on the new album, and then explore something else. If I may speak for Aeturnus fans: Please do so!