SAMPLE IDENTIFICATION

Artist: Ætheria Conscientia
Album: Corrupted Pillars of Vanity
Release Year: 2021
Country: France
Label: Independent
Studio Album No.: 2
Genre(s): Atmospheric Black Metal / Progressive Metal / Post-Metal
Tracklist:
1. Asporhos’ Altering Odyssey – 15:11
2. The Corrupted Sacrament – 07:13
3. Liturgy for the Ekzunreh – 08:52
4. Elevation in Arrogance – 10:58
5. Collapse in Penance – 13:42
Total: 55:56

BACKGROUND

There’s not much to find about Ætheria Conscientia. Woefully unknown and active since 2016, the atmospheric progressive black metal band takes the classical symphony approach with albums comprised of longform movements. Their Bandcamp page describes their sound as “somewhere between black metal, jazz and prog”. Musical and lyrical themes focus heavily on science fiction, particularly outer space, but God knows I can’t understand the lyrics anyway so I’ll take their word for it! Per their Bandcamp page, the album “focuses on an ancient caste of ominous guardians, the Kholoss, from their origins to their enslavement by truth seeking fanatics, in the name of an iconoclastic quest”, so it sounds pretty fucking nerdy. They only have two albums so far, this one and their debut album Tales from Hydhradh. I haven’t heard the debut yet, but my best guess is that Corrupted Pillars of Vanity is more of the same if extensive track lengths and made-up World of Warcraft-type words like “Ekzunreh” are part of the whole package. I don’t remember how I discovered Ætheria Conscientia, but Corrupted Pillars of Vanity got a favorable review on No Clean Singing and I’m making a point in 2021 to listen to as much brand new, critically acclaimed niche metal as I can. So here we are.

METALLURGICAL EVALUATION

I’m not afraid of any band that fashions themselves as “progressive” or “experimental” within their genre, so long as they actually deliver on their promises. My first impressions were very positive. Black metal, as a rule, means that it’s perfectly acceptable to have NO rules as long as you stick to certain key attributes (especially mood). It’s the most boundless of the various metal subgenres. I prefer my black metal bands to take full advantage of this wiggle room and try out some out-of-the-box shit, and Ætheria Conscientia delivers with heavy use of the sexy, sexy saxophone! Saxophone isn’t just peppered throughout the music, oh no, it’s slathered my good man! Both as an instrument of skronky background atmosphere (mostly) and an instrument of eerie soloing (occasionally, maybe only once actually).

To my ears, the saxophone is really the only truly original component of this flavor of post-/black metal, but there are also quite a bit of passages with the acoustic guitar and piano serving mainly as pretty, lighthearted contrast. The mammoth tracks feature the usual fare of slow, pounding riffs and desolate, hoarse vocals you’d get from the likes of sludge bands such as Neurosis or Cult of Luna. You even get sections with bongo-y tribal drumming that you got 25 years ago from Neurosis, so the influence is easy to pin down. But I don’t mind that at all, you see, because Neurosis is a smart band that smartly incorporated their smarty offbeat non-metal elements and it’s clear that Ætheria Conscientia wants to follow in their footsteps. I think they’re doing a bang-up job!

NOW THE MINOR GRIPES. This is supposed to be space and science fiction black metal. Even the band name “Ætheria Conscientia”, roughly translating from Latin to “celestial consciousness” or something to that effect, suggests the cosmos. I don’t hear enough of that in their sound. In fact, with all the snakey basslines, Arabic and Persian scales, and guttural Michael Gira-esque faux-Tuvan throat singing, my mind’s eye sees WAY more imagery of ancient civilizations. You know, the ones that were right here on, uh…Earth. For space and sci-fi I need washes of psychedelia, industrial drumming, otherwordly vocal effects, cold robotic textures, but none of this is present on the album with any sort of deliberation. So, as it stands, I’m left to make my own ancient-Egypt-was-actually-an-alien-encounter connections à la Stargate, and that’s hella grasping at straws. Again, these are minor gripes, but atmosphere is everything with black metal. Corrupted Pillars of Vanity misses the mark here.

Figure 1. Nothing says “employable” quite like a collarbone tattoo with the words “kill yourself”. For that matter, try not looking like long-haired Jeffrey Dahmer either.

CONCLUSIONS

As of this writing I’ve listened to Pillars of Corrupted Vanity eight times in full. I find it tough to assign sentimentality to this kind of music right away, even after multiple listens. This is an album to binge on at the beginning, revisit occasionally, and see where I stand a couple years from now. All I can say right now is that I find it enjoyable in the moment, although much of it meanders and I zone out here and there. The saxophone doesn’t break any ground, obviously, but at least it’s an element that’s unique enough to help the band stand apart from the other nine million bands currently making the same kind of music. I also enjoy the smatterings of Middle Eastern influence and the tribal drumming passages, Neurosis ripoffs notwithstanding. I look forward to listening to their debut and any future offerings! Hopefully they adjust their sound somewhat to better match their thematic motif. There, see, I have nothing truly offense to say! Good job, Ætheria Conscientia! Now clean up your look, that’s not how you get girls.