ex-Draconian, Sojourner, Light Field Reverie members got together last year to form a new band, the melodic doom/darkwave band Remina. I have to admit, I know a bit of Draconian, but I’m not too familiar with the other bands, or the subgenres it is a part of. Therefore, I’m going into this blind, and am excited to hear some new music!

Practically a track-long, slow-build, ‘Aeon Rains’ is a truly epic way to start an album. Starting soft and electronic, the vocals sounded amazing over the top. Don’t get me wrong, there are vocals throughout a lot of it and the distorted guitars and drums come in a minute or two in. It even has a great drop-out in the middle, stripping back to its bare bones. However, the whole 6+ minutes felt like it was building to its epic crescendo. I loved it!

‘Obsidian’ opens on a similar epic soundscape, much like the first track. It stays at a deliberately slow, almost sludgy pace throughout. It’s ethereal, moodily atmospheric and honestly beautiful. It would make a fantastic movie soundtrack song, and honestly the only way I feel like I could enjoy this even more is if I was high. It’s like dark, psychedelic metal, and it’s pretty fucking awesome.

It was at the third track on the album, ‘Dying Sun’ that I realised this will most likely be a pretty short review. And, I’d just like to point out first ‘Dyning Sun’ is my favourite track on the album. The riffing for the heavy bits is MASSIVE and so good!

Now, I do want to clarify before we go any further, I really enjoyed this album. However, it was all pretty similar music. I’m not saying that’s a bad thig at all, but much like variety is the spice of life, it is also the spice of reviewing and writing. I could go through each song and say almost the same thing, or I could lump them all together and say ‘this is all fucking awesome’. Heck, with this sort of music it almost begs to be listened to as one coherent piece anyway, so for me to analyse it all individually would almost do a disservice to the arrangement of the album.

So yes, a lot of the album’s tracks follow a similar sound and arrangement. It’s all very atmospheric and brooding, staying at a similar slow pace throughout. Even when the distorted guitars come in and it gets heavier, it maintains an air of beauty to it, as well as having plenty of room for the instrumentation to breathe when they drop out too. And the vocals from Heike are nothing short of phenomenal, too. They’re the highlight of the album, soaring beautifully and adding so much to the feel and sound. It all blends perfectly together for each track and leaves the finished product to be an amazing experience to listen to.

Overall: As I have said already, I really enjoyed this. I sat down and listened to it in one interrupted sitting (which for my easily distracted brain is pretty hard) and just got lost in it. Each song transported me away from my home and to a far-off world, and I loved every second. I imagine with a good stageshow this would be amazing live, and hopefully they can tour soon so I can try and check it out! For now, I shall continue to listen to this, I’m sure, for the rest of the year.

The Score: 7.5/10