Aetherian have announced Fall of Civilization for 21 January and will release it themselves. "Onto Primeval Land" is the first song from it.
Four empires, four ways of destroying yourself. "Our upcoming album, Fall of Civilization, is a journey through the rise and ruin of four distinct empires, each consumed by its own fatal obsession," the band said. "Driven by religious fanaticism, the thirst for endless warfare, technological obsession, or inhumane greed, each civilization built its own monument only to carve its own demise."
The single takes the first of them: a kingdom raising temples to a Sun god, pushing into forests somebody else already lives in, enslaving whoever submits and killing whoever does not. Written that plainly it is a history lesson, and the band have always worked close to that line, with Greek landscapes and lament traditions underneath the melodic death metal rather than decorating it.
Doing it without a label is the other decision worth noting. The Untamed Wilderness in 2017 and At Storm's Edge in 2023 both came through Lifeforce. Angelos Maniatakos wrote the music, Panos Leakos the words, and the record was finished at Psychon Productions after the rhythm guitars went down at Sealord Studios.