Aries Descendant - From The Ashes of Deceit
(Frontiers Music SRL - 2024)
A Heavy Metal release with plenty of symphonic flavour is delivered by Jonah Weingarten and Nicklas Sonne.
This new, debut release is called Aries Descendant which is a pretty cool sounding name. The album artwork is pretty cool too, with a dragon and lightning adorning its cover giving it a nod in the power metal realm as well. Everything suggests this could be an epic listen.
‘From the Ashes of Deceit’ is an atmosphere building instrumental introduction to the album and suggests the epic listen I’m anticipating is about to be unleashed. ‘Aflame The Cold’ follows and is a symphonic metal song that offers all the components I expected to hear. Elements of power metal, heavy metal and symphonic metal are all here. It’s a good start for the album.
‘Oblivion’ is quite atmospheric in its symphonic style and has a futuristic subject matter. The vocals, lyrics and musical arrangement maintain the album strong start. Track 4 is ‘Symphony of Demise’ overall it is trying to do far too much and becomes too over bloated. Less would have definitely been more on this track. ‘Moira’ is a decent track, parts of it I really like but it also feels like it’s trying too hard to impress by cramming too much in.
At the midway point of the album comes ‘Downfall’ which is a solid track overall. The violins in the musical arrangement give a grandiose feel and is more palatable. ‘Renewal of Hope’ gives me renewed hope that the album has found its early form again. The lead guitar parts have feeling to them rather than just ferocious speed. Track 8 is ‘Mechanical Ascendance’ and maintains the improved form that the album has found.
Both Sonne and Weingarten clearly have plenty of talent when it comes to this style of music. A nice piano lead intro starts ‘Echoes of Betrayal’ which builds with bombastic power. It is the best track on the album, offering a musical arrangement of symphonic heft. The album closes with the instrumental ‘The Heart of the Forest’ which showcases the talents Jonah Weingarten can produce.
‘From the Ashes of Deceit’ doesn’t quite manage to live up to the epic album it could have been. There are moments throughout that showcase the duo’s talent but also their habit to over egg the pudding on some tracks.
I think Sonne and Weingarten could do with filling out Aries Descendant with other full time members which might help its overall sound on future releases. It could be a very good album but it doesn’t quite deliver for me on that level.
It is still worth a listen though if you like your metal with plenty of symphonic elements.
6.5/10
By Carl Mace