Aeviterne - The Ailing Facade

Angry Metal Guy 80

It would feel cliche to label The Ailing Facade as “pitch-black,” “suffocating,” or “dissonant.” And while certainly dealing in extreme subgenres like death metal and black metal, calling Aeviterne as such feels unfair, like its genres of choice take away from the monstrosity that its debut represents. It’s laced with rage and vitriol, coursing through your veins like a parasite, yet its patience and deliberation are its most frightening aspect: it lies in wait, crescendoing to apocalyptic devastation with monolithic riffs as the gloom lays heavy. Its cover is accurate, an unnerving depiction of otherworldly mania and the submission to its forces, as the supernatural weight of The Ailing Facade transcends its many earthly signifiers.

It would be tempting to call The Ailing Facade the product of a supergroup. Formed with veteran blood from acts like Castevet, Gath Šmānê, Luminous Vault, and Artificial Brain, guitarist/vocalist Garett Bussanick uses Aeviterne as a vessel to resurrect New York dissodeath heavyweights Flourishing. However, this quartet feels like so much more than a supergroup. While Artificial Brain guitarist Samuel Smith’s contributions are what separates The Ailing Facade from its 2018 debut, EP Sireless, the chunky riffs of Labyrinth Constellation are nowhere in sight. However, a vitriolic cosmicism greets the ears as “Denatured” lashes the psyche with monolithic riffs, blasting percussion, and an unnervingly ominous synth presence. Aeviterne‘s emphasis on balance presents one of the best debuts in recent memory, at once gloomy and atmospheric, vitriolic and energetic, and majestic and filthy.

The Ailing Facade by AEVITERNE

The Ailing Facade promotes a vision of contradiction: “humanity’s twin drives to propagate and destroy itself, locked in permanent perverse competition.” These battling urges course themselves through every fiber of Aeviterne‘s tapestry, while its many threads form the likeness of the abyss. As such, balance shows itself through contrasting textures and passages. While embracing blackened death insanity in tracks like “Denatured” and “The Gaunt Sky” with pummeling blastbeats, scathing tremolo, and a healthy groove that keeps things memorable, when Aeviterne slows things down, patience becomes a potent weapon. Tracks like “Stilled in the Hollows’ Sway,” “Obeyance,” and the title track show sprawling synth lines atop ritualistic doom dirges, injecting the album with palpable dread. Alongside these passages of unrepentant sprawl, former Flourishing bassist Erik Rizk shines, providing pulsing riffs, noodling solos, and grinds that prevent descent into despondence, verging on nearly jazzy fluidity. Textures of guitar and synth interplay with melodies that ride the razor’s edge between dissonance and harmony, while drummer Ian Jacyszyn’s complex rhythms are as versatile as they are challenging.

The songwriting is top-notch in The Ailing Facade, as Aeviterne‘s moods and assets are many, but are graced with a palatably smooth and professional flow, making each passage flow into the next with seamless precision. For instance, the centerpiece trinity “The Reeking Suns,” “The Gaunt Sky,” and “Obeyance” flow with crescendos and diminuendos aplenty. From excursions of nearly post-metal dissonant disintegration that recalls William Basinski‘s The Disintegration Loops, to the unforgiving blasts of the body, to the chunky doom slogs of the conclusion, each is unique but feels purposeful and adherent. Even the title track and closer “Dream in Lies” are much cleaner affairs than their predecessors, relying on ambivalent melodies and more relaxed tempos, but the transitions are so firmly established and beautifully executed through the impeccable Colin Marston mix that they feel like classical movements rather than tonal inconsistencies.

Aeviterne‘s elements may strike each listener differently (perhaps an obvious observation for this breed of sonic abuse). One may find the pervasive blastbeats of “The Gaunt Sky” one-dimensional, the beginning and end of the title track atonal, or the synth overlays of “Penitent” too overbearing. One might find Bussanick’s vocals one-dimensional. But the overall mood and effect of The Ailing Facade is so powerful and cohesive that experimental sways feel like nitpicks on our end at best. While comparisons to acts like Convulsing, Diskord, Baring Teeth, and mother-act Flourishing are fair, they are incomplete. Aeviterne will kick in your teeth with dissonance, density, vitriol, atmosphere, and experimentation in all the right amounts with raucous performances across the board, and furthermore bolstered by one hell of a mix. Fans of its mother act will find that this is not the second coming of The Sum of All Fossils, but rather has become a bigger and more formidable beast entirely. While Aeviterne‘s more experimental pieces may be divisive, the abyss looms formidable and obvious in The Ailing Facade, and we are mere dust in its presence.

Rating: 4.0/5.0
DR: 9 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Profound Lore Records
Websites: aeviterne.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/aeviterne
Releases Worldwide: March 18th, 2022

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