Hello and welcome back to the Bandcamp Buried Treasure article series, where I'll be hunting down Buy It Now/Free Download-payment option albums on Bandcamp by the best bands you've never heard! The goal is to introduce you to smaller bands or obscure side-projects you might not have heard of. Anything to expand your musical horizons by just a little bit each week, all while keeping your cost (potentially) down! This week we'll be listening to United-Kingdom-based progressive metal act Aeolist!
Hitting play on Aeolist is essentially allowing the hooks to dig right into your skin and drag you into listening to the entire record, so keep that in mind if you've got stuff you need to get done today. Is a riff getting a little old? Boom! It's another riff now. Is a section getting kind of old or just too damn progressive where it'll collapse under it's own confusing weight soon? Blammo! Cool stuff that'll get you hooked again. Not to mention that unless you're watching the songs go by as they play on whatever media player you're using, you'll never know one song ended and the other began. Hence the "clear your schedule because this shit is addictive" warning up top there. Though this is one of the better ways you'd be late to work, a funeral, etc.
While "I" totters between melodious riffs and sweeps and jagged chugging, "II" just goes right for the jugular and doesn't quit until you've bled out. Or at least until about two-and-a-half minutes in when it switches over to amazingly well-played jazz that fits right in with the flow of the song. That's one of the many things that made me fall in love with this record- there's some really strange, angular stuff that happens throughout the course of it, but it makes sense. In keeping with the section of talking about, look at the progression into it. It goes from heavy into a short atmospheric breakdown, a reprise of a rhythm that you're already familiar (earlier on in "II") with, a common jazz lead-in kind of deal, and then Santana all up in there! Without ruining the entire EP for you, all I'm gonna say about "III" and "IV" is pay attention. Things happen quickly there's a lot of things happening to begin with.
I heard the EP and immediately thought about all the music I've heard before this trying to accomplish hat this so seamlessly does. What the hell is it about this that makes it so special? The answer, though it took me a while to figure out, is simple- it seems to be written as one piece and not just a gigantic riff sandwich. Aeolist appear to have taken the time to smooth out the edges, the transitions, everything, and figure out how they could make this the best damn release they possibly could. How they could make it proggy and angular but not confusing to the non-musician or casual listener.
They've accomplished that.
