I remember a time, not that long ago, when Aeternus were considered by many to be Kings (and Queen) of dark metal. Their blend of traditional melodies, blasting black metal and pummeling death metal formed one of the most crushing and interesting sounds in the entire underground. Then the band shed their corpse paint and the black metal imagery and somehow everything began to unravel. The group slowly shifted from their new incredibly heavy and emotive blackened death metal style to a more traditional death metal sound. Today, Aeternus seem to have dropped their black metal roots almost entirely and play a style of death metal more in the vein of Behemoth with hints of Vader; basic straight-ahead mid-paced pummeling death metal. The band does stray from the monotony from time to time, but for the most part the entire album sounds incredibly uninspired, as though the band is just going through the motions. While A Darker Monument is a great improvement over Ascension Of Terror, it lacks the substance and variety of …And So The Night Became or Beyond The Wandering Moon to make it worthy of multiple listens. Ares vocals do continue to be among the strongest in metal, but his riffs have become less and less imaginative, and the overall musical quality has suffered. The band’s best material was recorded as a three-piece with Morrigan, Ares and Vrolok. The addition of new members has caused the group’s sound to change greatly over the years and, honestly, they’re nothing like the band they once were. A Darker Monument is by no means a bad album, but in comparison to the band’s earlier works it doesn’t even begin to match up. I’m thankful the band released the material they once did, but as long as they continue along this musical path, I think I’m going to pass. For fans of mid-paced heavy blasting death metal, this may be of interest, but anyone looking for …And So The Night Became part 2 will be sorely disappointed. Personally, I find this album to be incredibly boring and have no desire to listen to it more than once.

Written By: Teufel