Review AEON ‘God Ends Here’

It took a while for Swedish death metal powerhouse Aeon to release a new album. Some might not even remember anymore when the last record hit the shelves. It was in 2012 when the band released with ‘Aeons Black’ their forth studio album and until then, the guys followed a rather consistent two-years release pattern. After that, things changed.

It took the band nine years to release their next longplayer. ‘God Ends Here’ is the title of an album that some might not even expected to be released anymore. The main reason for such a long time of radio silence have been line-up changes. It took a while for the band to find with Janne Jaloma, the right guy to take over the seat behind the drumkit. Together with Tony Östman, who joined in 2013, Jaloma provides the deadly heartbeat for the new album, which is the first Aeon release for both guys. Finally, Daniel Dlimi, who departed in 2013, returned to the band in 2019, another motivation and inspiration for Zeb Nilsson to work on new material.

Lyrically built around the emotions of anger and hate, the music fits perfectly to these feelings. ‘God Ends Here’ is a brutal death metal release that doesn’t take any prisoners. From the first tone to the last note, the guys unveil the musical steam hammer. Except for intro and interludes it’s songs like ‘Church of Horror’ that pulverizes everything that’s in its way. Down-tuned guitars, a rhythm section with workhorse power and a deep growl by Tommy Dahlström are the main factor for Aeon’s sound and are very present on ‘God Ends Here’. With a pace, mostly kept up high, the Swedes offer a 44-minute aural assault.

It feels like the band put everything they experienced during the last nine years into these songs, and it is at a certain point a bit too much. What excites during the first songs becomes a a bit lengthy after a while. The interludes are certainly good breaks on the album, and they are even more important since the rest of the material stays very much in a similar pattern. Brute death metal doesn’t offer too much room for variation, but Aeon stays a bit too often in the same thing only different approach. A well done variation though is the title track that shows an atmospheric approach while still celebrating the brute death metal energy.

To sum up. Fans of uncompromising and aggressive death metal will get with ‘God Ends Here’ an album that is a blast from start to finish. ‘God Ends Here’ is a loud statement of Aeon being back in business.