Band:	Aquilus
Album:	Griseus
Style:	Ambient, Atmospheric black metal, Symphonic black metal
Release date:	December 21, 2011
Guest review by:	SSM

01. Nihil
02. Loss
03. Smokefall
04. In Lands Of Ashes
05. Latent Thistle
06. Arboreal Sleep
07. The Fawn
08. Night Bell

It's not your fault if you listen to Griseus and mysterious images haunt you through the album. It's the attitude of this masterwork, you can just listen and totally get lost in it. Just lean back, play the music and let this be your marvelous journey to mystery and nature. You will be surprised how delightful it will be.

Did you ever listen to an album which is attractive enough to keep you listening 'till the end without skipping one single song? Griseus is one of them. It is creative and mysterious enough to keep you exploring. One moment, it sounds just like normal folk/symphonic black works, then it will remind you of an old cozy house in which you could just heat up your bones beside the fire, there will be a piano arpeggio afterwards in which you could be drowned... but don't get too comfortable, there is a storm coming and you should leave that cozy place and fight for your life.

Griseus knows no boundaries. The composer used everything that is necessary to make it a collection of joy, grief, hatred, love and beauty. You will hear beautiful and felicific melodies throughout the album; later on, there will be an ominous interval added to the music and suddenly it will change to a grim and tremendous atmosphere, but you know when the going gets tough, the tough get going. So, be prepared and you will find fresh moments again, just like the life in its true nature.

The production helps the music to be even more obscure and vague. It's not clear and sharp sometimes, it seems some of the high frequencies of instruments and especially vocals are decreased here and there to make it more ambiguous. Well done Mr. mixer, you've done an almost perfect production for this piece of music.

If you spend time on Griseus, you won't regret it. It features a lot of old school and modern elements of music and you will find enjoyable moments in every song. After some thorough listens, you will miss some special points; that special scream, those nostalgic piano parts and the forgotten battle on "Nihil". And maybe you will miss your cozy warm home, after all, there's no place like home.