NEAERA ‘The Rising Tide Of Creation’
Metal Blade (2005)
It was mid 2003 when Tobias Buck, guitarist of the Death/Grind outfit Malzan decided to create a side project with a slightly different approach to extreme Metal music to that of his current band. His idea was to form a band whose music would be mainly influenced by the Swedish melodic Death Metal scene (Dark Tranquillity, Soilwork) but would also "borrow" many elements from hardcore music. The band, which was at the time named The Ninth Gate, started as a quartet, with Benny Hilleke (vocals), Benjamin Donath (bass) and Sebastian Heldt (drums) in the remaining neuralgic positions. Right before their first ever show, guitarist Stefan Keller joined in and has been with the band ever since.
The year 2004 has been quite important and also very busy for the band. The first two months found the five musicians at the Docma-Klang studio in Osnabruck, recording their first demo. The response was more than satisfying and the result was that the band was offered a contract from the German label Metal Blade. The first thing that the five musicians did, straight after they signed the contract, was to change the band's name to Neaera (an Ancient Greek female personality). Now that everything was well arranged, Neaera were ready to enter the studio and record their debut album. Andy Classen, who has worked with bands like Die Apokalyptischen Reiter, Rotting Christ, Callenish Circle and Disbelief, filled the position of the producer and helped deliver to the music world the album called "The Rising Tide of Oblivion".
It was right from the very beginning that I found "The Rising Tide of Oblivion" to be quite a welcoming album. First impression was that Neaera are quite fond of bands like Dark Tranquillity and early In Flames and they are not ashamed to create music based on these standards. You do get a few hardcore elements here and there, but not enough to justify a comparison with bands like Heaven Shall Burn which I have seen in quite a few reviews so far on the net.
Andy Classen has done a great job on the production, bringing the guitars up front, allowing that way both Keller and Beck to terrorise you with their catchy and quite melodic guitar riffs. Benny Hilleke's vocals will probably remind you of those of Tompa Lindberg (ex-At The Gates), with a small exception in songs like "Broken Spine" and " Beyond the Gates" where his voice sounds heavier and more brutal.
Neaera's intentions while recording "The Rising Tide of Oblivion", were not to present you with something new. It was their love for this style of music that brought them together, and seeing as this is their debut album, I don’t see how they could have done anything better than that. A quality album, which should please all the fans of the Scandinavian melodic Death Metal scene.
***½
Review by John Stefanis
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