QUEST OF AIDANCE — Dark Are the Skies at Hand (review)

QUEST OF AIDANCE — Dark Are the Skies at Hand album cover EP · 2007 · Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
1.5/5 ·
Vehemency
On this little EP, originally released in 2007 already, Quest of Aidance blends together death metal, grindcore, and symphonic / orchestral / ambient... Wait, what? Well, the blending doesn’t happen within songs, but between them: ”Yautjan Overture” and ”Soundtrack To Hish” are responsible for Dark Are the Skies at Hand’s experimental pieces, taking almost half of the EP’s 15-minute total playing time.

What comes to the actual metal, we are offered four tracks of relentless grindcore / death metal fusion: fast tempos, both guttural and higher-end screeches and downtuned guitar brutality. I sense that programmed drums are utilized here, but it’s handled tolerably. A surprising amount of melody is to be found from these tracks, at least on ”Red Dust” and ”Sirian Breed” that rely a lot on lead melodies. ”Distant World Arrival” and "Yield” offer the most savage pieces on the record, my personal favourites.

15 minutes pass fast and, in all honesty, not much can be remembed of it afterwards. Dark Are the Skies at Hand suffers from being a herring salad: too many ideas are thrown together in so short songs. The fact that two of these tracks are taken from an earlier release doesn’t help the EP at all either, making the package even more confusing as there’s some inbalance between the productions of tracks. To me, it seems Dark Are the Skies at Hand is a rather pointless release, but I guess this could have its fans among the most open-minded grind / death lovers.
Share this review

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

A Sonication Technical Death Metal
OBSCURA
Buy this album from MMA partners
Hin helga kvöl Atmospheric Sludge Metal
SÓLSTAFIR
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Cycles of Suffering Black Metal
BURIAL OATH
Buy this album from MMA partners
Facilis Descensus Averno Death Metal
SAEVUS FINIS
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us