AEONS – 6EQUJ5

vote
7.5

• Bands:
  AEONS
• Duration: 00:23:00
• Available from: 11/21/2025
• Label:

• LAYERED REALITY PRODUCTIONS

The fourth piece in the discography of Aeons, a group from the Isle of Man, is definitely a gamble, because we are faced with the release of an EP composed of a single twenty-three minute track, which is nothing more than a long suite made up of eight moments.
Starting from the title “6EQUJ5” we immediately understand the spatial scope relating to the story behind this project, which starts from the existential question: are we alone in the universe? And will discovering the answer bring us joy or worry?

The start of this sonic journey is created by a long instrumental part, the result of many Pink Floyd listenings from the period of “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”, and the video supporting this EP is also very reminiscent of the images recorded during the Cold War years, when radars and antennas were not only busy scrutinizing our planet but were directed towards space research.
As with the last two appreciated works, “Consequences” from 2021 and “The Ghosts Of What We Knew” from last year, the stylistic feature of the quintet is the ability to evoke the characteristics of the progressive music of the Seventies and Eighties (long suites, instrumental pieces that intertwine with variations on the main theme) fusing it with current metal, taking the epic nature of Iced Earth-inspired riffs and solos and combining it with the power of the singing in triple mode; in fact, the game of verses continues, played now by Scott and Si (protagonists also with their guitars), ranging from whispered to clean, and now by Skippy, who is left with the more extreme parts, recalling the first Slipknot.

The various movements that make up “6EQUJ5” are all the chapters of this search for alien life, from the despair of not finding anyone out there, to the arrival of a radio signal (great use of the synths played by Si) with continuous changes of rhythm (the rhythmic part of Joe on bass and Justin on drums is here syncopated and reveals the anguish of the discovery of unknown worlds), to the contact, up to the journey towards the source from which the message started (pure stylistic exercise in the progressive tradition with scales, odd rhythms and solos).
The circular closure of this long sonic journey is also textbook, taking up the theme with which we started but modifying its meaning and spirit, aware of the transformation after having had a 'contact', with all that it entails psychologically and humanly.
An EP with only one track, as we were saying, is a bit of a gamble: it is partly derivative, given the inferences that are often intertwined with Aeons' writing, but, in the end, the judgment is still positive because for twenty-three minutes our ears and our minds were dedicated only to “6EQUJ5”, deriving enjoyment from it.