It is often said that when you reach a pinnacle, the only way is down and that’s a problem Esprit D’Air face with their latest album Aeons. Their last studio album (not including 2024’s retrospective collection, Seasons), Oceans, was such a success, both critically and commercially, that it seemed almost impossible to top. If the pressure was on, then it has been a spur that has propelled the band towards greater things and they have circumnavigated the problem of bettering Oceans by going off on a different tangent. Taking the listener on a journey to the dark heart of metal’s future, Aeons is an album epic in scope, a multicoloured sci-fi noir that finds Esprit D’Air scaling new peaks.
A good intro can really build tension and raise the listener’s expectations; like a curtain call at a theatre, it should create intrigue and spike our interest, acting as a foreshadow which plants seeds that will grow as the album progresses, acting as a portent of what’s to come. Tempus succeeds on both counts and is akin to a gateway opening to another world, with piano keys hanging starkly like icicles in winter sun and vocalist/guitarist/bandleader Kai delivering his words authoritatively, an aged storyteller reciting a legend from days of yore. It doesn’t really matter if you don’t understand Japanese; the sound of the words and the way they are spoken conveys a lot of meaning; it’s like a prologue in a book and a premonition for the rest of the album.
It means that when the following Chronos arrives, it is quite impactful; it’s a track full of glacial synths and guitars that slice through the air like razor-sharp blades, whilst Kai’s voice makes an amazing transformation and flips between angelic, clean singing and demonic growls. True to the band’s modus operandi, it is (like all of Aeons) a genre fluid song that flits between electronicore, prog, gothic and alternative metal and delivered with a melodic sensibility.
It’s an approach that gives Esprit D’Air an exorbitant amount of freedom and ensures that no two songs inhabit the same sonic space, with Aeons ranging from all out ragers such as Silver Leaf with its ethereal guitars reaching for the stars, and the hauntingly beautiful Habatake, and at the other end of the spectrum, the soaring Like A Phoenix, a song punctuated by huge white space. Yet even within individual songs, like wheels within wheels, the band are in constant motion, smoothly and seamlessly transitioning between different styles as if shifting sand.
Clocking in at under 36-minutes, Aeons is half the length of 2022’s Oceans, and in that respect, it is far more digestible. Oceans was undoubtedly a great album, yet its running time of over 75 minutes placed it in the double album category, and just like Pink Floyd’s The Wall or The Who’s Quadrophenia you had to set aside a certain amount of time to listen to it. Aeons, by dint of the shorter running time, feels more dynamic and is more in sync with our fast-paced world. It seems that sometimes less really is more, and it is this which gives Aeons the edge and ensures it is an album built for eternity.
With their latest album Aeons, Esprit D’Air have once again exceeded the exceptionally high standards they set for themselves. It finds them at new creative heights and creates a rather nice problem as to where they’ll travel next, but it seems that the sky really is the limit.
Aeons Tracklist
1. Tempus
2. Chronos
3. Shadow Of Time
4. Quetzalcoatl
5. Silver Leaf
6. Stardust
7. Machina
8. Lost Horizon
9. Broken Mirror
10. Zetsubou no Hikari
11. Like A Phoenix
12. Habatake
Esprit D’Air’s newest album is available on the major streaming services, Bandcamp, and on physical media (CD, cassette, and vinyl) via the official website of the band.
