With ‘Disconnected’ Aethara present themselves as a band with a very clearly defined sound. Aethara are modern thrash, tinged with death metal, metalcore and hints of more classical thrash metal – harmonized riffs, face-melting guitar solos and crushing, low string brutality are rife throughout this EP. However, one of the things that gives them distinction from the multitude of other bands writing music in the same vein is their spine tingling use of clean choruses: in every single song on ‘Disconnected’, drummer Ted Hewett’s vocals soar over the rest of the music in a fleeting moment of beauty amongst the dark, gritty viciousness of Aethara’s thrashy sound. On my first few listens, I thought this was fantastic – each clean chorus genuinely sent shivers down my spine. However, as I continue to listen to ‘Disconnected’, I wonder if perhaps these clean choruses are a little overused by the band. The melodies used in each chorus tends to follow similar patterns, and as such what should have been the melodic hook that left an imprint in my brain and drew me back time and time again to Aethara’s music simply becomes somewhat repetitive. Just as many bands can write a great riff and in turn ruin a song by overusing it, I feel Aethara have overused these clean sections.

That said, ‘Disconnected’ is by no means ruined! The band is fantastically tight throughout the whole EP, and the production is stellar throughout. ‘Disconnected’, unlike many local band releases, sounds truly professional. Each track is absolutely huge, especially in the clean sections (despite my earlier criticism, ironically), and vocals across the board are extremely well sung – frontman/bassist Ben Gross screams with an aggression that is difficult to match, injecting a healthy dose of passion into his voice, which in turn makes him much more listenable and pleasing than those of many other screamers. Tasteful, yet technical guitar solos shine throughout the EP, and although breakdowns are frequent and nothing short of violent, they rarely resort to the generic ‘chug’ that so many modern bands waste their time writing.

‘Disconnected’ is well worth a listen. Aethara have produced an EP that showcases them as a band that has the potential to stand out from the crowd of generic thrash/metalcore bands, and, despite what I might possibly call a slight lack of diversity in their songwriting, each track on ‘Disconnected’ provides a relentless onslaught of metal that I, as a listener, cannot help but enjoy.

Stream or buy ‘Disconnected’ at BandCamp / Aethara on Facebook