We have been closely following the musical progress of Minnesota’s Amiensus, essentially step by step, since we discovered and then praised their wonderful debut album Restoration back in the early days of 2013. Since then, they have released (and we have reviewed) a split with Oak Pantheon, a single named “Wolfhead’s Tree“, their 2015 album Ascension, and another single named “Reflections“.
As we happily reported last fall, Amiensus have signed with Apathia Records for the release of a new EP this spring, and now we have further details about it as well as the premiere of a track from the EP named “Gehenna“.
The title of the EP is All Paths Lead To Death, and Apathia has set May 19 as the release date. It will be available on CD and as a digital download. The EP includes five tracks, of which “Gehenna” is the first in the running order.
We’re told by the band that “the concept of the album revolves around Hell and different depictions as well”. For “Gehenna”, the band “took a deliberate step back from the pronounced keyboards”, yet they’ve told us that “this song will still have the most similar sound to previous material, as there is also almost no clean singing except on this track”.
I have to say that “Gehenna” has rapidly become one of my personal favorites among the songs Amiensus have recorded. It’s a strikingly multifaceted track. On the one hand, it’s as explosively ferocious as anything they’ve done, with high seething riffs and blinding drumwork matched to flesh-ripping shrieks and malignant roars. On the other hand, it’s almost as chilling and ominous as it is vicious in the early appearances of the clean vocal melodies. And on the third hand, in the final minutes, as the uniformly impressive instrumental performances shine even more brightly, it becomes beautiful in a way that swells the heart.
We’ll have more to say about All Paths Lead To Death in the coming weeks. But you can — and should — pre-order the EP now. To do that, visit Apathia’s web shop:
https://shop.apathiarecords.com/en/bands/158_amiensus
Amiensus:
James Benson; Vocals
Alec Rozsa; Guitars, Vocals, Keys
Zack Morgenthaler; Guitars
Todd Farnham; Bass
Chris Piette; Drums
Aaron McKinney; Vocals
Amiensus on Facebook and Bandcamp:
https://www.facebook.com/Amiensus/
https://amiensus.bandcamp.com
9 Responses to “AN NCS PREMIERE: AMIENSUS — “GEHENNA””
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This is great, I love everything they have put out. Would love to see them play the west coast.
Emperor/Ihsahn worship done right! These guys are building a great (if not exactly groundbreaking) catalog.
It has more Dimmu Borgir elements mainly in the first part before the vocals start. However, the clean vocals in this song doesnt seems to fit well as it uses to. Also the real drums mixage feels the same to me.
I have to agree with your assessment that this is one of the finest Amiensus songs yet. Totally killer!
I saw them in MD a few weeks ago, and although it was a short set, I got to hang out with them afterwards. Really cool dudes, and I’m excited I see something new by them.
Thanks for coming to the show and hanging out! Frederick was such a cool little town/city. We hope you’ll dig the new EP when it comes out.
Not sure what to think about it. It is a very good song, But lacks that certain something that made me love Restoration so much.
ALso, im becoming old and grumpy, and can’t listen to that song without being annoyed by the choice of drum sound.
Well they are real drums, something that neither Restoration or Ascension had, but I understand not liking aspects of a mix, yeah.
A heads up though that this EP will be a bit darker/more black metal, but our next release will pick back up in the vein of Restoration and Ascension once again.