Black Sun Aeon - Darkness Walks Besides Me (2009)

I first heard of this band when I got a CD sampler from Stay Heavy Records during Tuska 2008. Black Sun Aeon is one of many projects from Tuomas Saukkonen, and like all of this projects, it's brilliant. Having 'formed' just in 2008 this album showcases the musical creativity of Tuomas. The release is dark and heavy, a perfect combination of Death and Doom Metal.

This album also features an array of guest vocalists that give different dimensions to this album. It was great to hear Tomi Koivusaari from Amorphis growling again (in Chapter 4), Ville from Moonsorrow (Chapters 5 and 7) and Mynni from Sotajumala in 3 songs. The guest vocalists provide their powerful vocals to an already great combination of clean and harsh vocals provided by Tuomas and Mikko.

I must say that you can see some small similarities to Before the Dawn, but it's definitely more aggressive. The guitar lines are slow and heavy, creating the perfect sound for this release. The drumming is stellar like everything Toumas plays with his other bands. And the keyboards are present enough to provide a haunting atmosphere and they are never over used.

All songs of this release are very solid and well composed, showing that Toumas has creativity to spare. All songs have their unique elements that make them different from each other but they also have a underlying foundation that could be coined as the band's characteristic sound.

I must say that "Darkness Walks Besides Me" is a great album that will have all fans of Doom / Death metal cheering for it, and waiting for this bands next release.

Country: Finland