The fact that the album was released in 2011 should not make you overlook it, for it is one pretty damn fine piece of music! San Diego’s Aenea made some really strong progressive metal even in an age shrouded in djent copycats. For your information, this band isn’t one.

Deciding to ditch the new “progressive metal” sound (note the quotation marks and the italic letters) in favour of the more traditional yet more malleable prog-metal sound is always a winning bet. Don’t get me wrong, I love some djent from time to time, it’s just that there are so much dumpalikes with no original ideas or creativity whatsoever; taking progress out of progressive metal.

Now back to our sheeps. Aenea’s mixed influences show and are a pleasure to the ears. They have a few “longer” songs that definitely set the high mark while the others don’t shine as much. Transmutation, for example, is my favourite of the EP, and they really should’ve focused more on experimentation – as we always say.

Nevertheless, the Perennial EP is free and solid so treat yourselves! However it’s quite a bummer that the band’s now on hiatus since 2012. I wouldn’t hate some more music from them! I guess it’s time to check what the guys’ve been doing since…