Maximum Metal Rating Legend

Middian - Age Eternal - 2007 - Metal Blade Records

Track Listing 1. Dreamless Eyes 2. The Blood Of Icons 3. Age Eternal 4. The Celebrant 5. Sink To The Center

Up until about 2 years ago, I never got into the Doom Metal scene. It just did not do anything for me. I was always about speed, aggression, and blast beats. However I discovered YOB online and was instantly blown away at versatile and unique their brand of Doom Metal was. I bought all of their CD's and became an instant fan. From their ultra heavy riffs to the epic song lengths, YOB represented something fresh in the metal scene that defied the direction of your typical run-of-the-mill death
metal band. Then, in 2005, they split up. Yeah, I was bummed out but I still had their CD's to listen to that greatly defined their legacy status. Then about six months ago, I caught wind that Middian was being formed out of the Ashes of YOB and that their debut CD, Age Eternal, would be out March 2007.

Here it is, March 2007, and the new Middian CD is here to reclaim the mis-direction of Heavy Metal. My initial thought was that I hoped it would be as good as YOB. Well, to my dismay, it literally blows YOB out of the water. Middian have created a masterpiece with their unique brand of mid-tempo Doom Metal laced with both clean (Robert Plant-ish) and death vocals. The album contains 5 epic tracks of raging doom that catches on like a wild fire. A lot of people tend not to like doom metal due to the epic song lengths becoming boring at times. Not here folks! Middian is well ahead of the game as their sound represents a very catchy style of doom that will have metal heads listening to every track over and over again.

The album opener, Dreamless Eyes, is a fast-paced song that picks up right where YOB left off, however there are some new dynamics at play here as the music maintains a heavy stance while incorporating melodic hooks that are greater than a one two knockout punch! The song eventually slows down with a more doom approach. The next track, The Blood Of Icons, is an 11 minute journey into the psychedelic unknown. The beginning is an eerie acoustic passage that suddenly formulates into some of the most evil doom you have ever heard in your life. After the initial doom barrage, we are treated with a little homage to Led Zepplin until the uncompressed power of the Oregon trio picks up the pace once again for the remainder 7 minutes of the song. The third song, Age Eternal, is my favorite song on the CD as it shows a mix of both psychedelic acoustic passages and melodic (but heavy) doom over the course of an epic 14 1/2 minutes. The Celebrant is without a doubt, the fastest and heaviest song on the CD that will have the hair on your arms crawling. This song shows the unique duet of clean and death vocals mixed with some of the sickest riffs I've heard in a while. The albums closer, Sink To The Center, pretty much sums up what YOB - and now Middian - are all about: power, heaviness & ultra slow doom metal.

If there is one CD that I could recommend to all metal heads this year, it would be Middian's "Age Eternal". Though firmly rooted in the doom metal genre, fans of all categories of metal will be please by this recording. So, grab some tissue, turn up the volume, and standby as your ears start to bleed!



--Grim Gaijin 03.24.07