Aeba, a German outfit, describe their style as “apokalyptic black metal.” They do have a female keyboardist, but she doesn’t sing. This is atmospheric black, not gothic black – and they are fully corpsepainted, with studs and leather.

Rebellion – Edens Asche is a lengthy album and features eight songs and runs 66 minutes. The music is never tediously complex or chaotic and contains many well-timed breaks for keyboard interludes. The keys don’t just mimic the guitars yet they don’t overwhelm the other instruments either. The pace is mostly on the slower side with simple memorable rhythms. The production is good; above average for black metal, actually. They prove adept at subtlety without loosing intensity. The only real weakness is the drumming. It is good but repetitive. It’s certainly not strong playing, but it does not detract from the music. Drummer Nidhogg is not mentioned or pictured in the booklet so it may be a session drummer. I don’t know if Nidhogg is even still with the band. “Once You Summoned Me” is fast, with shrieked vocals and blastbeats, some nice guitar-driven segments and a slow keyboard ending. “…Between Wrath and Anguish” has a fast intro and lower-pitched moan/roar styled vocals. The bulk of the song is slow paced with periodic fast guitars and an ultra fast ending. “Flammenherz” brings together the best aspects of all the songs and is guitar dominated instead of drum dominated. All the songs are worthy of inclusion and the hour plus of music never drags. Alternating vocal styles is a nice touch, with each songwriter providing the vocals for his own songs.

This is Aeba’s second full-length and third cd release. With Rebellion – Edens Asche, it is about time they got some attention.

[Visit the band's website]

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