AETERNUS - NORWAY

Beyond The Wandering Moon - 1997 - Hammerheart
...And So The Night Became - 1998 - Hammerheart
Shadows Of Old - 1999 - Hammerheart
Ascension Of Terror - 2001 - Hammerheart
A Darker Monument - 2003 - Nocturnal Art
HeXaeon - 2006 - Dark Essence
And The Seventh His Soul Detesteth - 2013 - Dark Essence
Heathen - 2018 - Dark Essence
Philosopher - 2023 - Agonia

Aeternus image
  
 
Members
Vocals
Gorgoroth, Immortal>>ARES [RONNY BRANDT HOVLAND]>>Gorgoroth, Immortal

Guitar
Gorgoroth, Immortal, Black Hole Generator>>ARES [RONNY BRANDT HOVLAND]>> Gorgoroth, Immortal, Black Hole Generator - Amok, Malice In Wonderland, Taake>>Radek [Radek Nemec]>>Amok, Malice In Wonderland, Taake, Dead To This World, Slavia – Lidskjalv, Grimfist, Cult Of Catharsis, Taake, Sworn, Black Hole Generator>>Dreggen [Dag Terje Anderson]>>Sworn, Grimfist, Slavia, Necroccultus, Evil Forces - Thyruz>>GORM [HENNING BERG]>>Thyruz


Bass
Gorgoroth, Immortal>>Ares [Ronny Brandt Hovland]>> Gorgoroth, Immortal, Örth, Malignant Eternal - Obtained Enslavement>>Morrigan [Nicola Trier]>> Obtained Enslavement - Gorgoroth, Immortal>>Ares [Ronny Brandt Hovland]>> Gorgoroth, Immortal, Örth, Malignant Eternal - Helheim, 1349, Red Harvest>>V' Gandr [Ørjan Nordvik]>>Helheim, 1349, Red Harvest – Kraków, Vidr, Gravdal, Malignant Eternal, Phantom Fire>>ELD [FRODE KILVIK]>>Kraków, Vidr Gravdal, Malignant Eternal, Phantom Fire

Drum
Disembowel, Gorgoroth>>Erik “Vrolok” Hæggernes>>Gorgoroth, Sulphur – Gorgoroth, Gravdal, Trollberg, Taake>>PHOBOS [ELEFTERIOS SANTORINIOS]>>Gorgoroth, Gravdal, Trollberg, Taake





History & Biography
Formed by Ares in 1993, the band sadly borrowed some folk music inspirations and recorded a demo entitled Walk My Path, which was limited to 200 copies.

Czech Republic's View Beyond Records released a MCD entitled Dark Sorcery, which lead to a deal with Hammerheart Records. Beyond The Wandering Moon was a little more compact and faster than the band's MCD and the band toured in Europe. After a tour with Emperor and album number two the band hit the stage, once as headliners and once as the openers for Deicide. In 2002 the band toured Europe with Agathodaimon, Enthroned, Hecate Enthroned and others.

The band ended up on Nocturnal Art Productions for A Darker Monument. This album was released by Candlelight in North America. Recorded at Grieghallen Studios in Bergen, Norway, A Darker Monument was produced by Pytten (Emperor, Mayhem, Enslaved, etc.). Drummer Erik “Vrolok” quit the band in early 2006 and was replaced by S. Winter (Forlorn, A Winter Within, Gehenna, etc.). The band’s next album HeXaeon was soon completed. Drummer S. Winter was no longer with the band due to the man’s physical distance from the rest of the group. His replacement was one Terris. Dark Essence would issue ...And The Seventh His Soul Detesteth by the band in May of 2013. The gang released its next album, entitled Heathen, through Dark Essence Records on October 12th.

The group was booked to play Unholy Congregation in Belgium in November 2022. Agonia Records signed Aeternus in the summer of 2023. An album was due in the same year. Philosopher was released in November. In the meantime, the group appeared at Beyond The Gates. Gorgoroth, Aeternus, Impalement and Aran Angmar were going on the Black Metal Revelation Tour 2023 Part II in The EU & UK. The group was booked for Inferno Metal Festival 2025.


Reviews

AETERNUS - SHADOWS OF OLD - HAMMERHEART
I have little doubt that this 'Norge' trio is the better of the two simply on the basis of the built-in brutality on the nine-tracker at hand. I simply feared the worst when this CD was brought up to my towers for inspection, and there they were an image-conscious trio featuring a female member. Evol, I thought feeling the vomit rise forth within me. And then...holocaustic brutality !! This is a cross between true, brutal metal and true brutal metal! This is like freight train against the body of an innocent child, crushing and forceful. Shades of Immortal, Satyricon and even lo-fi death vocals make good resonances in the depths of Metallian towers. This is one hell of an album to buy Under the Eternal Blackened Sky. - Ali "The Metallian"

AETERNUS - A DARKER MONUMENT - NOCTURNAL ART
The biography for Aeternus (which calls them Aeturnus incidentally) comes with a quotation from digitalmetal.com heaping praise upon the band like there is no tomorrow. This is wrong, oh so wrong. Mention is not of corporate commercialism and pandering (more on that later), but of the essence of that review. Norway's Aeternus is essentially the definition of derivative death metal. While it is good, nay essential, to stick with the basics of death metal, it is not prudent to deliver sub-par death/doom in a world successfully packed with great metal everywhere one looks. The level of competition is such that playing the same old, same old death metal just will not cut it. Unfortunately, that is exactly what this quartet does. The niveau is acceptable, but the derivative nature of the delivery and the by-the-number tuneage is not. Hampering the proceeding is yet another weak production courtesy of Pytten and Grieghallen Studio in good old Norway. The muffled sound is further worsened by silly experiments like the omnipresent extreme reverb placed on the snare.
The band needs to refocus its energy on composing invigorating material. Then it needs to proceed to a studio where the engineer understands the need for a clear sound that punches through the competition. While we are at it, the so-called metal media out there needs to stop accommodating label and publicist and begin doing its job. That, incidentally, is guiding the buying and paying public and not ensuring itself a steady supply of advertising and free promotional music. - Ali "The Metallian"


Interviews







Aeternus