Short Reviews [Aethellis - 2023 - "The Affinity Oeuvre"]

Multi-instrumentalist and singer Ellsworth Hall started Aethellis as a solo project in 2002, releasing his debut album the following year. He then brought in some other musicians so he could perform the music live, and in 2011 returned to the studio with them to record ‘Northumbria’. This was as a full band, but there have been some changes again since then and now Aethellis comprises just two other musicians, both of whom were involved in that, Mark Van Natta (guitar, vocals, bass, keyboards) and Erik Marks (bass), while Ellsworth provides keyboards, vocals, guitar and drum controller. I must confess this never sounds like a modern album, but instead has its heart very much in the very early Eighties, combining American melodic rock with lightweight progressive so it has a very different feel to what we were hearing in the UK with the likes of Twelfth Night, Marillion, Pallas, Dagaband and others. That is due to it being mostly soft melodic rock with some progressive tendencies and nuances here and there as opposed to being “straight” prog. I would have loved to have heard this with a full band as one can only do so much with programmed drums, although Ellsworth certainly works them hard, and the keyboard synthesized brass does not have the power and intensity of the real thing. However, the bass is often quite superb with some lovely warmth, although there are times when that also sounds as if it is coming from keyboards. There is something of a lack of depth within the arrangements which I am sure would have been addressed if this was a band as opposed to a project, but this is just one musical area for Ellsworth who also works in classical music, library music, and providing music for games. It is passable, but when I finish playing it I am unable to remember anything about what I have listened to as it is somewhat lightweight. Opening track, “Anandia”, show promise at more than 12 minutes in length but there are only two others which manage to make it past five and most of the rest are less than four. The material is not strong enough to be memorable, and the reduction in personnel also means we are not getting the best out of it. Not one to which I will be quickly returning.