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It is a rare event today that brand new bands make any significant impression on me. I guess you become more demanding the further towards death you travel but then again you have to choose the best when there are thousands of bands out there who want you to buy their albums. This is the reason why I am so happy when I discover new great bands. Aquilon from France is one of them. Most of the bands on the Adipocere label are local black and death metal bands but Aquilon are different. The band was created in the year 2000 and last year Adipocere found the band's music interesting enough to release their debut EP "Les Ombres de Quatre Murs". I haven't heard the mini album as of yet but this first full-length album of their's is indeed interesting. Musically Aquilon doesn't let themselves be placed into a genre easily as they let a wide array of influences mix and interact with each other in their songs. There is a little bit of thrash metal, progressive tendencies, death metal and even a touch of gothic flavour to be traced here. I wouldn't even dare begin listing bands to compare these French men and women with because I have not really heard anything similar to this. The vocals are the most impressive aspect of Aquilon as they master everything from clean male vocals to beautiful female vocals and powerful growls within the band. I also appreciate their use of French lyrics which is unfortunately rather unusual in the world of metal. French is a beautiful language and definitely suited for more emotional and passionate metal such as this.
I really like the female vocalist Anne who sings extremely well from time to time. Her voice is not the most exceptional one but she pushes herself to do the best she can with it and succeeds. She also shares keyboard duties with her male counterpart Alexandre. The male / female duet singing is most effectful and apparently something they should stick to in the future. Keyboards are placed with care and Aquilon never let a song drown in meaningless keyboard backgrounds. The female vocals are very diverse and reminds of vastly different bands like early Guano Apes, Battlelore and Dominion Caligula. Without letting either side win, Aquilon balance their song writing between aggression and beauty, between melody and chaos. The album cover looks very plain and cheap in my opinion but it is the inside that counts and "Intermedia" is a wonderful album suited for just about every metal fan but perhaps gothic metal fans in particular. I sincerely hope that this is not the last we hear from them. It would be a shame. Stand-out tracks: "ABC Of Time", "Témoins De L’Aube".
| Tracklist |
| 1. Articuler Les Chapitres |
| 2. Play The Victim |
| 3. ABC Of Time |
| 4. Les Ombres De Quatre Murs |
| 5. Témoins De L’Aube |
| 6. Intramedia |
| 7. Pulse |
| 8. My Madness |
| 9. Univers |
| 10. Tracer Les Contours |
| Bonus track: |
| 11. As I Was A Child |
: 51.49
| Buy other Aquilon albums |
