AQUILUS - Griseus CD
Just by the beautiful album art and band logo, Aquilus manages to stand out from the rest. I got into this band a while ago, before I was into any sort of extreme or obscure genres of metal, long before I was into atmo black, yet I still loved it then, and still love it now, as it holds #3 spot in my all time favorite albums list currently.
The seemless blending of styles in this album is incredible. While listening to this album, you forget you are even listening to a metal album because you get so lost in the atmosphere. The mixture of atmospheric black metal, folk, and classical creates such a beautiful sound, and with genius compositions like these, makes for a truly genius album.
The guitars are a highlight of this album, both electric and acoustic. The black metal sections have incredible riffs, such as the opening riff in “Latent Thistle”, delivering chaotic and groovy riffing with intense growls over it. There is also some incredible lead work and melodic guitar soloing on songs such as “Loss” (see 7:30).the acoustic guitars are a brilliant addition, with some highlights including the lead in to the black metal section in “Nihil” with an ominous and suspenseful acoustic guitar riff as well as in the joyful folky section at the end of “Latent Thistle”, which is possibly my favorite moment off the album, having one of the most beautiful melody/chord progression combos ever, and closing out an otherwise darker song perfectly.
The keyboards and piano are the other major highlight of this album. Keyboard and piano melodies dance around frequently and are a major compositional component of Griseus. Some highlights include the piano intro to, and the main symphonic melody of “The Fawn”, however the keys and piano have their highlights on every song.
The vocals on Griseus could be described as black metal vocals, though they are quite unique. They blend well with the distorted guitars and bring a darker, sometimes evil, atmosphere to the music, as well as a lot of overall intensity.
The drums in this album aren’t amazing on their own, but they support each song perfectly, and have their moments to shine. Overly complex drums would have hurt the album since there is already so much going on throughout most the album.
So, when you have stellar compositions, excellent stylistic and production choices, perfect instrumental execution, loads of atmosphere, and nature themes, you get one of the most emotionally moving pieces of music ever, which is exactly what Aquilus did with Griseus. While Aquilus’ previous release, the Arbor EP, was amazing, this album shows tons of growth and improvement in songwriting. One could only hope to ever reach the level of creative genius that Aquilus possesses.