God, I just love writing these stupid puns in premiere titles! Anyway, back to the matter at hand: it’s been a good few years for sweeping metal fronted by extremely competent vocalists (I’m thinking Unleash the Archers and Oceans of Slumber here). Aversed are very much another entry in that trend and that’s awesome; the band are gearing up to release their new album on March 19th of this year. Titled Impermanent, the album sees the band dig deeper and aim further with their brand of melodic death metal. “Close Your Eyes” is a great example of this: strong vocals, groovy guitar riffs, and an overall chromatic and expansive atmosphere are the order of the day here. Head on down below for your first listen!
Overall, I think the adjective that most jumps at me from this track is “engaging”. Everything is written to be extremely enjoyable, from the bouncy main riff, through the epic and moving solo, and right down to Haydee Irizarry’s sweeping vocals. It’s a formula we’ve heard before but honestly, it works extremely well in forming the backbone of melodeath so what’s wrong with that? Aversed are very cognizant of the tropes of their sub-genres and are very happy to employ them to an impressive degree. The one thing I’d call out here as a departure is the loud bass and you know my position on loud bass: it fucking rules. This is the case here as well, as Peter Albert de Reyna does a fantastic in giving the track an extra layer of sleekness.
Bottom line: if you’re a fan of grandiose, melodic metal that’s not afraid to be earnest and wear its heart on its sleeve, this album is 100% for you. As we mentioned above, it drops on March 19th and you can head on to the band’s Bandcamp to pre-order it.