Band:	Anethera
Album:	Terra Exodus MKIV
Style:	Industrial doom metal
Release date:	2008
A review by:	Raiden

01. Prologue - Dawn Of The Blazing Sun
02. Ashes - The End Of Civilization
03. Desolation - Zealotry Breeds Death
04. Exodus - At The Edge Of An Infinite Void

Style: Extreme Ambient/Industrial Metal
Country: Denmark
Label: Self-Released
Length: 17:36
Recorded: 2007

Line-up:
Dan Skøtt - All instruments


I couldn't imagine many of you would have heard of Anethera before, so I'd better give you all some background information. The band is a one man project of Dan Skøtt from Haderslev, Denmark, whom has been through a few bands now and is focusing on this, his anger channelling Industrial/Ambient/extreme Thrash with Doom Metal elements vision. The long statement about what style of metal Anethera can be categorised as may sound confusing, but what you hear is quite complex! The release we're presented with here is a demo called "Terra Exodus MKIV". Let's find out what's so complex about it.

Terra Exodus MKIV sounds mostly extreme but only really at a "Teutonic" Thrash level. The heavy riffing is there but it's presented at a semi-Doom pace. One of the interesting things about this demo is that at times the riffs aren't long slow reverberations of the one strum of the guitar but there are mid-paced note changes forming a kind of "galloping" sound. At the same time though the overall feel of the music comes as a lumbering behemoth of heaviness. This feeling could be due to the flowing background ambience. This fading in and out sound in the track "Ashes - The End Of Civilization" for example accompanies the overall Industrial sound of the music very well. There is a similar kind of ambience in most of the tracks on this demo and it's really a nice mysterious sound adding a shrouding kind of layer that doesn't take away from the physical instruments. Speaking of which, whilst the production isn't top notch, the drumming is especially sharp and strong. The guitars aren't hidden either but still drowned a little if the bass is turned up too much on one's audio player. Although as a positive side effect of this the end of the last track sounds even better with it's steady mid-paced double-kick drumming. The under-produced sound does kind of add to the darkness being conveyed but at the same time does smother the music a little.

Another prominent feature in the Industrial type sound presented here are the highly distorted vocals. The vocals are growled as it is but distortion effects add a kind of static/robotic sound. While it makes them entirely indistinguishable it fits in with the cold Industrial style.

So this demo isn't like anything Zyklon or Fear Factory have done it's still very interesting and falls deeper into the Industrial sound while still containing some extremity and not being flat-out frenetic Industrial/Death Metal. I recommend Anethera's Terra Exodus MKIV to those who like something a bit more Ambient/Industrial while still retaining some heaviness.