Aeon is a Swedish brutal death metal band. Known for their old-school-meets-new-school sound and fervently anti-Christian lyrics (occasionally to the point of Narm), Aeon has become something of a cult favorite over the years, having been praised by Alex Webster, among others.
Formed in Ostersund in 1999 by Tommy Dahlstrom (vocals), Sebastian "Zeb" Nilsson and Morgan Nordbakk (guitars), Johan Hjelm (bass), and Arttu Malkki (drums) from the ashes of Defaced Creation, they quickly had a demo recorded and released that same year. A year came and went; come 2001, the Dark Order EP hit, with Nordbakk leaving shortly after and being replaced by Daniel Dlimi. Malkki left the following year, with a young hotshot by the name of Nils Fjellstrom taking his place. The band starting writing for a full-length and moved to the studio in late '03; with the recording done that following year, the band started hunting for a label. A deal was eventually inked with Unique Leader Records, and Bleeding the False finally dropped in 2005 and attracted quite a bit of buzz, including a mention by Alex Webster as one of his five favorite albums of the 2000s. Hjelm, however, quit, with Max Carlberg taking his place. A tour with Cannibal Corpse followed in 2006, along with a new record deal, this time with Metal Blade. Rise to Dominate followed in 2007; in addition to this, Fjellstrom joined Dark Funeral, but he decided to stick with Aeon for the time being as well. Writing for the next album began that following year; come 2009, the band kicked things off with a tour, though Carlberg suddenly departed in September and was quickly replaced by Victor Brandt of Satyricon fame. Brandt, however, did not participate in the recording process of their upcoming full-length, as he had joined far too late to have the time to learn his parts; as such, Nilsson and Dlimi recorded the bass parts in his stead. Brandt quickly left at the beginning of 2010 and was replaced by Marcus Edvardsson; come May of that year, Path of Fire dropped to great fanfare, though Fjellstrom announced his departure in September due to the fact that Dark Funeral was taking up too much of his time for him to be able to still focus on Aeon.
This led to Malkki, who had remained good friends with the band even after his initial departure, rejoining. 2011 proved uneventful, with scattered shows and tours; come 2012, the band started preparing to record another full-length, and Aeons Black hit that November. Malkki did not stick around for much longer, however, as he was expecting twins; as a result, another young hotshot by the name of Emil Wiksten joined as a live fill-in, but quickly turned into a full-time member when Malkki decided to focus all his energy on fatherhood. Edvardsson also left around this time to focus on his other band, and Tony Ostman took his place. There was also some truly good news, however, as the band finally got a ticket into the US by way of a spot on the Summer Slaughter Tour; with that under their belt, it appears that they can only go up from there.
On October 2013, guitarist Daniel Dlimi left the band, citing financial problems. He was later replaced in 2014 by Ronnie Bjornstrom, who also doubles as their front-of-house tech. Bjornstrom himself left in early 2015 at the conclusion of their North American tour with Cannibal Corpse, Behemoth, and Tribulation, citing the physical toll that heavy touring took on him. A new guitarist is currently being sought.
Discography:
- Demo 1 (1999)
- Dark Order (2001) - EP
- Bleeding the False (2005)
- Rise to Dominate (2007)
- Path of Fire (2010)
- Aeons Black (2012)
- God Ends Here (2021)
This band contains examples of the following tropes:
- Ascended Extra: Ronnie Bjornstrom was the producer for Aeons Black and had been their front-of-house tech long before that. As a close friend and experienced musician in his own right (he's been in more than a few of Rogga Johansson's many, many,
many projects over the years), he was the easiest and most natural choice. - Ax-Crazy: "Kill Them All"
- Berserk Button: The band has acknowledged that they have a particularly pronounced hatred for pedophile priests, as well as the Catholic Church for covering for them.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: Nils Fjellstrom, and it pissed the band off to no end. He was an immensely talented drummer, but his utter disregard for basic planning and prioritizing caused the band to have to bail on several tours and caused a fair bit of tension.
- Brutal Death Metal
- Careful with That Axe: Tommy's higher shrieks tend to have this effect on the listener.
- Freudian Excuse: Dahlstrom's hatred towards Christianity. See Religion Rant Song below.
- Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow: Zeb Nilsson.
- Irony: Nils Fjellstrom had to leave to focus on Dark Funeral. His own replacement in Dark Funeral wound up coming to Aeon to help them out.
- Metal Scream: Tommy doesn't use them too often, but he can pull off some Peter Tagtgren/Lord Worm-caliber shrieks when he wants to.
- New Sound Album: Aeons Black specifically focused on making slower, heavier, more "evil" songs (in Nilsson's words) and as a result greatly downplayed their faster blasting portions.
- Religion Rant Song: You can count the amount of songs they have that aren't this on one hand. Dahlstrom stated that this is because he grew up next to some particularly persistent and obnoxious Jehovah's Witnesses who refused to leave him alone and would not stop trying to convert him, leading to his immense dislike of Christianity.
- Revolving Door Band: They really seem to have trouble holding on to bassists.
- Satan: Actually a very rare subject in their lyrics; while it was a fairly common theme in their early work, Dahlstrom gradually moved away from it and towards a purely anti-Christian viewpoint, ostensibly because he felt that praising Satan was just as ridiculous as praising God.
- Special Guest: Janne Jaloma (Dark Funeral) is currently this on at least a session basis, as COVID-19 travel restrictions coupled with Timo Hakkinen's physical distance from the rest of the band kept him from being able to rehearse with them and eventually necessitated his departure. With a nine-year gap between albums approaching, they had to get someone local who could learn the tracks fast and knock them out in the studio, and Janne wound up being that guy.
- Technical Death Metal: Commonly referred to as this, but they don't really go out of their way to be technical and thus arguably do not qualify.
- Teen Genius: Emil Wiksten was well-known for his ability even as a teenager, and he joined Blood Red Throne when he was only 19.
