Aesma Daeva - Dawn of the New Athens
CD Info
2007
Pnevma Records
9 Tracks
English & Italian Lyrics
Dawn of the New Athens is the fourth album released by Aesma Daeva. Aesma Daeva started out very strongly for me, with their absolutely fantastic debut Here Lies One Who’s Name Was Written In Water. Their next released, The Eros of Frigid Beauty, wasn’t as strong as their debut but was still a very good album. Their third album, The New Athen’s Ethos, did nothing for me. Seeing the downward trajectory the band was headed in, I didn’t really have high expectations for Dawn of the New Athens. However, things did not turn out a badly as I expected.
The vocals on this album are handled by a very talented woman named Lori Lewis. I absolutely loved her performances on this album—her voice fits perfectly with Aesma Daeva’s style of music. This time they’ve added a bit more metal than usual, but there are still many classical moments as well. The music for the most part is moody, haunting, and dark.
Each song brings something great to the album—my favorite song being "The Bluish Shade". Also worth mentioning is the Mozart cover, "D'Oreste D'Adjace" (which is done very well and is probably the most upbeat the album gets) and the remake of Artemis (which is very much improved compared to the version on the last album). As with many Aesma Daeva songs in the past, each song contains many changes in tempo and rhythm, which I like. It makes for a very interesting listen—you never know what will come up next.
Overall, I’m very happy with this release. I don’t think it’s as good as Here Lies One Who’s Name Was Written In Water, though I doubt that’ll ever be topped. If you enjoyed any of Aesma Daeva’s past work, I would give this a listen.
8 / 10
