I quite enjoyed the self-released debut from Aversed, Impermanent, back in 2021. It was an unabashed homage to Arch Enemy‘s styled melodic death, from members of Alleageon and Begat the Nephillim complete with Haydee Irizarry doing her best Alyssa White-Gluz impression.

Well, there are a couple of changes in the Aversed camp. First, the jump up a league to the Century Media records offshoot label, M-Theory audio (Scardust, Warbringer, The Abscence, Hecate Enthroned, Into Eternity), And Second, the switch in vocalists from Irizarry to Sarah Hartman (Metanoia).

Now, casual listeners might not notice (heck, I initially didn’t notice), as Hartmann has a similar growl/clean singing approach, but after going back and listening to Impermanent, Irizarry had more operatic/classical /Gothic metal range in her clean vocals, while Hartmann has a little more Adrien Cowan (Seven Spires) in her delivery of growls/ screams and clean singing, and she has a little more variety in her screams and growls.

Songwriting-wise, the band seems to also have added a little variety. While certainly still melodic death metal, they are a little less radio friendly and Arch Enemy sounding then the debut, as it appears drummer Jeff Saltzman has taken some cues from his other band Allegaeon, and gotten a little more complex and a little more brutal, though Hartman still has a more expansive appeal with her clean choruses.

Just listen to the standout single “Cross to Bear”, where everything new comes together perfectly with a blistering yet emotive chorus that highlights Saltzman’s blast beats and Hartmann’s excellent singing. The same can be said for “Inexorable” and “Erasure of Color”, where everything is a little more aggressive than the debut but still balanced.

At times I get a Jinjer vibe as heard on the skronky “Lucid Decapitation” and “Burn”, then they calm things down a bit with “Solitary”, which also reminded me of some of Jinjer and Tatiana  Shmayluk’s more restrained moments. The album ends with a short acoustic number “Yearning”, and the moody semi-ballad”Departures”, ending the album on a perfect emotional endnote, as Hartmann spread her wings.

Erasure of Color does exactly what a second album and a jump from unsigned to signed should do; improve on the debut, add a little development, and still retain the core sound, and Erasure of Color does that perfectly. Let’s see what they do with the all-important, often watershed third album, as with bands like Jinjer, Spiritbox, and Face Yourself, deservedly blowing up and giving much-needed attention to female metal singers, the time is right for another band to blow up.

[Visit the band's website]

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