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AEPHANEMER “Utopie”
AEPHANEMER “Utopie”
By Dr. Abner Mality
About a year ago, I drastically changed my radio listening habits. After years of enduring the same slop from the local “rock station that really rocks”, I changed the dial to one of the rarest of musical gems… a channel devoted to classical music. I still listen to it. I rarely hear the same song repeated endlessly the way commercial radio does and while I certainly don’t like everything I hear, the classical tunes I really like give me a feeling similar to the greatest of metal songs.
Which brings me in a roundabout way to France’s AEPHANEMER. “Utopie” is my first experience with them, which is a mistake I admit with a red face. Many, many bands have tried to integrate the elements of classical music with heavy metal over the years. Very few are as successful as these guys. So perfect is the mix of metallic and classical aspects that it’s difficult to separate them. Imagine melodic death metal combined with symphonic power metal as well as totally orchestral moments and you will be close to understanding AEPHANEMER.
Many of the tracks here are fast and heavy, yet the riffs have the feel of baroque music. The lead guitar of Martin Hamiche shreds in true neoclassical fashion. They say that Bach and Mozart would have been metal guitarists…they would have sounded like Hamiche does here. His ability to completely burn the strings yet create melody that the classical giants could have appreciated is up there with YNGWIE at least. And the rest of the band more than keeps up. Both bass and drum have ample opportunity to demonstrate their excellence.
Another major piece of the AEPHANEMER puzzle is the vocal ability of rhythm guitarist Marian Bascoul. Yes, a woman, but don’t expect the opera diva tones of a NIGHTWISH or WITHIN TEMPTATION here. Marian’s vocals are 100% rasping in death/black metal fashion. There are no cleans here! Despite that, she effortlessly handles rapid fire French lyrics with aplomb, best heard on “Chimere”.
So the metal is strong here, but so, too, are the classical and symphonic elements. The best example of that is “Contrepoint”, the standout track on the album. What a beautiful merger of classical and metal vibes in equal measure! This is one of the best neoclassical metal songs I’ve ever heard. And the longer epic cuts like the instrumental “La Rivere Soutteraine” and the two-part title track have some breath-taking classical moments as well as metallic ones. I can appreciate this now much better than I could have a year ago.
I came to AEPHANEMER and “Utopie” a little bit late, but better late than never! This is a work of musical genius.
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