Customer Reviews

Dawn of the New Athens

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Well, general speaking Aesma Daeva is one of the pioneers in the Metal Genre and this statement is not an exaggeration. The most important thing now-days is the innovation of the music production in respect of ideas, feelings and of composition, too. The overall topic of Symphonic Metal accompanied by female vocals experienced a saturation the last 5-6 years. The key point, for the specific scene, is synonymous with the combination of different styles always in a Metal way. In Aesma Daeve someone can find catchy and unique melodies, ethnic influences and many colorful feelings. The "Dawn of the New Athens" contains deep thinking lyrics and a light philosophical atmosphere which is very important for the modern Metal listener. Beyond the "head-banging fashion", there is a land of emotional music which has as a consequence the discovery of unknown music lands. The journey to this land is still on the run!"

The title pretty much says it all. Seriously, this may be my favorite Aesma Daeva album to date. Lori Lewis is a fantastic singer and the music is as good as it always is. Seriously, worth every penny.

Lori Lewis has an incredible voice and the whole 2 CD's are focused on her voice. Although this might be classified as Metal, the tempo is much slower than expected, with many pauses that use silence as a note to accentuate the notes that follow. There are many Slow parts followed by load parts. There are some good metal moments and some very unique sound effects. I am not sure, but I think they even used some ionian scale structures here (4 note scales instead of 5, 7 or 12). At first listen nothing on this CD stands out. But I make it a rule to listen to each CD I buy at least 5 times before I evaluate the CD. I have discovered that this CD is full of sleepers (Songs which grow on you). I got this CD because Lori did some singing with Therion. But this CD has little in common with Therion. If you give these CD's a chance you will be haunted by her vocals, which will follow you around even when you are not listening - which is a characteristic of all great music. There are several versions of the song "Loon", the best is the swamp mix which has many unussual sound effects & I give all versions 5 stars. A also give Tisza's Child, The Blue Shade & Artemis five stars. The primary CD has 9 songs, The first 3 are good or great, then the songs are so-so until the 9th song - which is why I gave 4 star for the CD. The second CD has only 4 song (2 loons), but every song on this CD is good. I recommend this CD to those who are patient when listing to music. If you want hard driving guitar rifts and catchy lyrics that grab your attention right away (which I like too), but do not have the patients replay CD's that you dont like at first, then avoid these CD's; But if you have patients, you will end up liking these CD's very much.

I just received this,have listened to it 3 times,enjoying it more each time!
If you like the other 2releases by AESMA DAEVA you'll enjoy this.

Aesma Daeva has once again blended various types of music into a unique form of symphonic metal. This music is interesting, complex and well-composed, and would be an excellent addition to your symphonic metal collection.

I wish I could give this cd five stars since they are a local Twin Cities band but I find this project boring. All the music is well played and it is obvious that the musicians are rich with talent. In fact the soprano singer is now with the great Swedish masters Therion. The problem is that the songs lack anything even resembling passion.
Since I am at heart a metal head, I have little tolerance for art for the sake of art. Bands like Nigtwish and Therion combine metal and elements of classical music to express ideas and they do it well. It seems to me that although Aesma Deava have talent they have nothing which they are trying to express apart from the fact that they have skill.