Neaera - All is Dust

Angry Metal Guy 40

I’m not gonna pretend I’m Neaera’s biggest fan, but I was nonetheless brought hurtling back to my high school self circa 2010, when I came across their 2007 album Armamentarium and bought it on iTunes for $9.99 plus tax. Never mind that Omnicide – Creation Unleashed and Forging the Eclipse were out at that time, not to mention earlier material, but tracks like “Spearheading the Spawn,” “Armamentarium,” and “The Orphaning” were just too good. Well, I guess not good enough, because I never listened to Neaera again except to revisit Armamentarium. Until now.

I’ve heard Germany’s Neaera described as “what Heaven Shall Burn should have been” like ten years ago, but I’ve never quite understood that. Imagine twelve tracks of “Endzeit” from Iconoclast with slight variations and you’ve got Neaera. It’s that fusion of melodic death metal and metalcore with a penchant for violence and riffs that characterize your favorite straight-edge divine arsonist vegans and German metalcore at large.¹ Since 2004, including a hiatus between 2015 and 2018, Neaera has honed its craft: walls of down-tuned tremolo, chunky breakdowns, warlike drums, and Benjamin Hilleke’s trademark shrieks. For eighth full-length All is Dust, it’s business as usual – however you choose to interpret that.

All Is Dust by Neaera

Pulverizing riffs are the name of Neaera’s game, so if you come with expectations of complete sonic melodeath/core saturation, you will not be disappointed. Opener “Antidote to Faith” is exactly what you can expect with All is Dust, with shredding down-tuned tremolo guiding the proceedings with slight melodic edge, the drums dancing from thrash-inspired speed and blackened blastbeats, while vocals vary from trademark shrieks, heavy barks, and growls. All is Dust is markedly rawer than its predecessors, adding a nice viciousness to tracks like the bouncy “Swords Unsheathed” and a greater emphasis on breakneck chugging and wild heart-wrenching melody in “Per Aspera.” “Edifier” is perhaps the best track here, recalling the act’s history with a hurricane of blasting riffs and groovy rhythms, while follow-up “In Vain” is a tastefully morose affair – the ruin after the storm. Like much of German metalcore, breakdowns are much more of a background element that rarely capitalizes, but adds a nice bite to tracks like “Per Aspera” and “Dividers.”

The main problem, especially compared to the act’s history, is that All is Dust’s rawer production by and large does little for Neaera’s generally one-trick pony Heaven Shall Burn worship. While Armamentarium worked well in razor-sharp precision and bludgeoning hugeness, both are lost in much of the proceedings herein, as the act’s composition formula involves building upon a single riff. Tracks like “Pacifier” and “All is Dust” feel both sloppy and lame, more varied and formidable vocals largely lost in the same-sounding muck. Another casualty, track lengths fall between the four- and five-minute range, which gives further breadth to tracks like the brutal “Edifier” but feels painfully long in “Pacifier” and “Render Fear Powerless” due to lack of direction. Furthermore, while closers “Dividers” and “Into the Hollow”² attempt the brutality and breath attempt, largely fallen short compared to “Edifier” and “In Vain.” Ultimately, Neaera’s approach has not changed a bit in seventeen years, so those looking for movement and challenge in today’s music will be sorely disappointed.

Neaera’s “don’t fix what ain’t broken” approach has worked for its eight full-lengths and nearly three decades of existence, but All is Dust becomes a chore in its monotony. Yes, the wall-of-sound riffs are still a pleasant surprise in tracks like “Swords Unsheathed” and “Edifier,” and Hilleke’s vocals are more pronounced and rich throughout, but the muddier production and weaker bombast prove difficult to overcome – robbing the album’s teeth. Armamentarium is a return listen for me nearly constantly, but for the newest incarnation of Neaera, All is Dust is by and large a dirty disappointment.

Rating: 2.0/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Metal Blade Records
Websites: neaera.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/neaeraofficial
Releases Worldwide: June 28th, 2024

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