ETHEREAL RIFFIAN – AEONIAN ...

It is almost like a miracle to see that people living in a nation with a tormented history and on the verge of a civil war make efforts for building up something of sheer beauty. This is the case, for example, of a band that the readers at Doommantia know well and appreciate, Ethereal Riffian, from Kiev, Ukraine. Ethereal Riffian involves the Kornev brothers, Val on vocals and guitars and Alexander(aka SAF) on bass,  together with Max Yuhimenko (aka Southman) on lead guitar and Nikita Shipovskoi (aka Ship) on drums. Val Kornev is also known as Stonezilla, musician, singer, composer, graphic artist and also blogger active in the good ol’ Sludgeswamp and then in Robust Fellow blog. Last but not least, Val was one of the backbones in the organization of the two editions of the cool international stoner-sludge-doom Robust Festival in Kiev during 2012 and 2013.

Aeonian, the second full-length album by Ethereal Riffian, was completed at the beginning of this year and started spreading outside the Ukrainian borders right at the beginning of the political and military crisis in that country, during february and march. This write-up is therefore addressed to those who happened to miss the release of this precious jem during the past months. Maybe the Ethereal Riffian quartet was bound to become a sort of ambassador of positive thinking by means of their breathtakingly charming music and by means of what stands behind it: ideas, words, creativity and skill. Hence entering into the top ten best prog albums for 2014 for the webzine Prog Sphere is a more than due and deserved result for the overall activity of this band. There are several levels of enjoyment, or better, of experience through which you can interact with Aeonian.

Many of you, or better us, enjoyed the debut full length album, 2011 Shaman’s Visions  for its style, heavy and ethereal at the same time, across doom-stoner and psychedelia and for its framework as concept album.  Well, Aeonian is probably representing a journey for artistic enhancement and of tri-dimensional extension in these musicians’ creativity.  Aeonian is primarily music, although it strays the boundaries of the sense of hearing by transgressing into the visual, intellectual and tactile experience via the solid extensions of the album.

You can deeply and greatly enjoy the sole music (e.g., in digital format), but the Aeonian experience brings you in direct, physical contact with the artists by means of the objects (I don’t like to call the “gadgets”) handcrafted by them and by means of the book, a real book, accompanying the album package. Basic, down-to-earth materials like coarse hand-dyed cloth, wood and paper are used for making up the ornamental objects associated with the different stunning limited edition packages of Aeonian album, be it in CD or as LP format. The book is a joint effort of the two Kornev brothers and tells you about the driving force of Aeonian, the ideas behind this new concept album. Like the colorful album covers, the book has been decorated with the contribution of graphic artist Stonezilla as well. The essential black-and-white drawings in the book may look awkward if you hastily page through the book driven by surficial curiosity. But these strange, sometimes obscure sketches will suddenly acquire life and a vivid narrative power as soon as you enter into the story.

Music-wise Ethereal Riffian have been crafting a magnificent opus where they plunge their hands into a variety of music genres, like heavy to ritualistic doom, desert rock, space and lysergic heavy psychedelia drenched with meditative, oriental-flavoured atmospheres, the latter in the vein of Om. But Om might just be one of the sources of musical inspiration.  As a matter of fact, the approach to composition is prog-oriented in the sense that Ethereal Riffian’s sophisticated suites are polymeric and dynamically changing like a sonic kaleidoscope. However the dynamics involved in Aeonian has not necessarily the role of showing off for musicianship, but possesses the same pace and power of water waves, of the wind blowing in boundless deserts and of the heartbeat. Ethereal Riffian play riff-laden, powerful heavy music pulsating according to rhythms in nature and this is probably their way of approaching to meditation. All four monumental suites in Aeonian, i.e Thugman (Sensation), March of Spiritu (Rise of Sheol), Wakan Tanka (Awareness) and Anatman (Oneness), are blooming with sequences of alternating crushing heaviness, haunting atmospheres, and mesmerizing melodies. Distorted fuzzy riffs and thundering drumming may burst to the limit of aggression. You are introduced to Aeonian by such bursts of energy via the majestic opening of the first ballad Thugdam, although all four suites offer their load of solid riff-based heaviness. But tight rhythms and the bursts of dark or oppressive, harsh sounds may get masterfully blended with slower, airy, more intimate or meditative, occasionally acoustic-driven passages, or else by some beloved bluesy melodies, when not moments of balming silence where maybe one note is left vibrating.

Exotic atmospheres may also be evoked by the particular use of vocals as well as, sometimes, created by the introduction of “unconventional” instruments, like didgeridoo, djembe, flute and cello (contributed by guest musicians). For example, you can experience the delicate, exotic flavor of didgeridoo in track Wakan Tanka. Vocals are a fundamental component of Ethereal Riffian’s magic. Val Korner’s clear singing style is breathtakingly vibrant, declamatory yet fresh vocals morphing to both the more vigorous, metallic sides of the band’s style and the ritualistic, evocative intervals. It may be thanks to the excellent mastering which was able to impart tri-dimensional thickness to the sound, and to the vocals in particular.  If I have to mention some other bands, apart from Om, reminding me of Etheral Riffian’s features, I would forcibly include Sleep, Ufomammut and Yob, but also Obelyskkh, Elder, Los Natas and the trance-like, ritualistic dark ambience coupled with pulverizing heaviness in the eclectic Finnish doom band Dark Buddha Rising.



Like the overall release, also the story behind the album, in the book, is developing on different levels, like the parallel universes mentioned in the narration and the different approaches to life experiences described. The book is subdivided in four chapters named after the four monumental suites of the album and broadly deals with a sort of spiritual journey where growth of self-consciousness and eagerness to penetrate the sense of life and to gain inner and outer peace and balance clash with the rough and dull reality of human history and imposed social schemes. Narration continuously shifts from recognizable historical, contemporary times to timeless situations where internal struggle and meditation only point to grasp the true sense of the universe by searching the help in various philosophies, ancient cultures, shamanism and techniques of meditation. A reference to writers like Hermann Hesse and/or Carlos Castaneda is unavoidable. You may start by reading a “normal” story of a strange and extremely clever, sensitive boy born in Russia and find yourself being smoothly drifted into a fascinating analysis of the transcendental consequences of quantum physics and the mathematical demonstrations to the existence of multiple universes, after “recovering” from lysergic visions induced by a pipe in an Indian tent. Scary? Not at all, you’ll be surprised. One may be skeptical about or not interested in transcendental meditation. No problem. The basic ideas behind the narration may sum up to inner questions that everybody having some sensitivity may sooner or later experience: how to relate to people and to the world, how to improve oneself, how to find peace, wisdom, how to cope with the main, good and bad aspects of life, including violence and death, and so forth.

Even without the book, Ethereal Riffian’s music has got its own intense language that will speak to your senses. Aeonian is definitely one of the most involving and surprising albums to possess, to plunge into and to explore, periodically and wholeheartedly. Ethereal Riffian will be touring in Europe soon, during September 2014. Keep the band’s Facebook page checked for more info and, if possible, also for helping the guys in the diy organization of their tour.

Words: Marilena Moroni

Ethereal Riffian @ Facebook
Ethereal Riffian @ Official webpage
Ethereal Riffian @ Bandcamp