Quest of Aidance – Dark are the Skies at Hand (2008)

Quest of Aidance is yet another band that was started/features Christian Älvestam from Scar Symmetry, Solution .45, etc. fame. This Death/Grind band also has within it’s ranks Jonas Kjellgre (Scar Symmetry, Centinex), and Henrik Schönström (Unmoored) on drums.

After all the name-dropping we find ourselves listening to a very brutal Death/Grind release with some weird stuff in the middle. All previous musicians are usually known for their technical abilities but in “Dark are the Skies at Hand” they show they can do uncompromising brutality with a little technical aspect on the side.

This EP features 4 brutal tracks and two experimental songs that in our opinion are just fillers. The ‘normal’ tracks are very well crafted and sound very aggressive, with intricate guitar work and hellish drumming we can’t ask for more. The vocals courtesy of Jonas are extremely brutal bordering in the extremes of Death Metal and Grindcore.

“Dark are the Skies at Hand” was released on a limited print in 2007 and Pulverized records is re-releasing it on a ‘larger’ but still limited press (500 copies). We assume that the label is trying to capitalize on the band members current band’s successes, but we don’t see anything bad with this since this EP is very solid.

All tracks are equally brutal and appealing, but the two ‘experimental’ songs are very contrasting and in our opinion pointless. “Soundtrack to Hish” is very minimalistic and somewhat droning song that just puts you to bed. “Yautjan Overture” is quite the opposite, being a Synth piece that will remind you of a Dimmu Borgir intro or something like that.

In general “Dark are the Skies at Hand” provides us with 4 solid songs, if you are a fan of any of the band members other bands you might find something that you like here. If you are just stumbling on this album, we don’t really think it’s worth purchasing at a premium price.

Release: June 16th, 2008

Country: Sweden