ADON

Sometimes, perhaps often, there is great benefit to knowing absolutely nothing about an artist. A shadowy duo from California, ADON have no apparent hinterland and no real desire to concoct one. In the true tradition of the blackest metal, "Adon" arrives after minimal preamble and only one preview single ("Axiom").

Peddlers of an epic but voraciously bleak strain of blackened death metal, and superficially reminiscent of bands like NAGLFAR and DARK FUNERAL, they arrive with just enough anticipatory mystique to rise above an incessant deluge of extreme metal hopefuls and self-congratulatory white noise. As a particularly enticing bonus, ADON have had the good sense to recruit one of metal's finest drummers to hammer their dark message home. His name is James Stewart (DECAPITATED / ex-VADER) and he is a badass. "Adon" is alive with his expertise, but in no way overshadowed by it. Rather, ADON sound like a finely tuned machine, churning and grinding in the charred depths of Hell, beholden only to the task of making the most crushing and epic music possible. This absolutely rips.

When the first monstrous riff erupts at the beginning of "Ascension", ADON's method of destruction is swiftly laid out for all to hear. Rooted in the imposing carnage of the '90s death and black metal scenes, but with a precision and finesse that speaks of more cerebral intentions, "Adon" is ambitious in style and scope. It is also bursting at the seams with elegant but poisonous melodies and bloated with progressive intent (and a side-serving of haughty superiority). As demonstrated by the glorious lead break that lights up "Ascension", it is also unapologetically committed to the old-school metal cause. By the time "Ascension" breathes its last, many will be wondering what else a fan of this shit could possibly want? But then, after "Æther" delivers a second, vitriolic tornado of monochrome majesty, ADON really begin to flex their creative muscles.

A towering epic among towering epics, the title track is a 16-minute glimpse of what this band are truly capable of doing. Giddy on prog-rock spirit but still locked into the heavy metal matrix, this is still blackened death metal, but with the usual restrictions put to the flame. Melodically florid, albeit when it isn't taking people's scalps off, it also reveals a more cinematic and texturally rich side to ADON's sound. A mid-song meander through strange, psychedelic realms (with bonus woodwind) is lethally effective and leads into another sustained burst of pristine prog extremity and wind-whipped, black metal grandeur. "Adon" is a brilliant, brilliant thing, and worth the admission fee on its own. Songs like the mysterious, mid-paced "Azimuth" and intergalactic blast-off "Axiom" add some necessary meat to this album's sturdy bones, but ADON are at their most devastating when plunging delightedly into indulgence. The closing "Æon" is the other miraculous exhibit here: a second long-form nightmare, with even more hands-to-the-sky opulence and a MORBID ANGEL-esque sense of malevolent scale, it is both achingly beautiful and profoundly unsettling.

Despite emerging from nowhere, ADON exude authority and frequently sound exactly like the band metal fans of a certain disposition have been looking for. ADON are sworn to the black, and custom-designed for glory. One of the strongest debut albums of the year, clearly.