Shadowpath – The Aeon Discordance

Switzerland is a land of lakes and mountains, clocks and chocolate, and the occasional metal band. A new name has come to my attention and despite the sparsity of available info about the band, I was intrigued. Shadowpath are based in a town called Aarau which is the capital of the northern Swiss canton of Aargau. Switzerland has four national languages, and this region is German speaking, however the band sing in English. They formed in 2005 as Spellbound changed their name to Wishpond and finally settled on their current name in 2006.

After many years they released their debut album Rumours of Coming Down in 2017 and now have a second release. The wait has been well worth it as “The Aeon Discordance” is a very pleasing slice of Symphonic/Progressive Metal. Consisting of 9 tracks and lasting just shy of an hour, it takes you on a varied and exciting musical journey. In the absence of any other info about the band apart from the line-up, that just leaves the music.

Starting with a track that takes up roughly a quarter of the album the band lay out all their wares. Within a few bars of ‘The Lifeline Economist’ I knew I was definitely going to like this album. The solo piano from Philipp Bohny and contrasting vocals from him and Simone Christinat bring this opening track in gently. They are soon joined by drummer Samuel Baumann and finally, guitarist James Pankhurst who comes in with a heavy driving riff. The track then wends its way through multiple styles which vary from mellow and catchy to aggressive complete with growls. Along the way there are harmonies, guitar solos, and some flute, so the mood changes frequently. This is a truly magnificent and epic introduction to this album and the band.

All the aforementioned elements feature in the shorter and faster ‘Outside the Tetrahedron’ which has already been released as a single. Simone’s range of vocal talents become evident as she delivers gutturals as well as sweet cleans. The track is majestic, and the sublime level of musicianship comes across loud and clear.

Single number two was ‘Unwounded we Bleed’ which starts sedately then gradually builds in intensity. At this point they add mixed style vocal wise and some nice guitar work. It is a kind of death metal ballad if you can imagine such a thing. You may see them associated with that genre and be put off by that. Do not be, the material throughout the album is predominately melodic with occasional growls.

Those gutturals almost seem incongruous in ‘A Coming Storm’ which is otherwise melodic and catchy. The track opens and closes to the sound of wind. As that dies away, sandwiched in the middle of the album, lies the only instrumental track. ‘Reveries in Blue’ is a pleasant guitar piece lasting just over one minute. This leads into ‘Homecoming (Sleepy Lies the Forest)’ which is a mixture of prog rock, blues, folk and death metal. This sounds like it should not work but with the addition of some great guitar work, it does.

After that, the more straightforward ‘Eyes of our Brothers’ livens things up. This punchy symphonic metal song sees a strong delivery from Simone. There are some growly parts although it is difficult to tell precisely whose they are. Overall, it is heavy but melodic and catchy and takes things up to an interesting last quarter of this excellent hour-long release.

The penultimate track is a 10-minute epic entitled ‘Demons Within.’  It took a few listens before I was able to appreciate the myriad of changes within this piece. The casual listener might think it is several songs strung together, as did I initially. How ever you perceive it though, it is another great track.

Winding things down, the band have gone for a sombre mellow song to finish this excellent and varied album. Simone performs a beautiful rendition of ‘At the end of it all’ and there is not a growl or power chord to be heard. Well maybe a few power chords at the end as a parting reminder of their true nature.

For me, this is a band that stands out from the crowd and “The Aeon Discordance” gets better with each listen. Their compositions are diverse and vibrant and have the ratio of ingredients that closely match my current musical taste. I hope this album will propel them to greater things and I look forward to hearing more from them.

Track-List:

1. The Lifeline Economist
2. Outside the Tetrahedron
3. Unwounded we Bleed
4. A Coming Storm
5. Reveries in Blue
6. Homecoming (Sleepy Lies the Forest)
7. Eyes of our Brothers
8. Demons Within
9. At the end of it all