After a 4 year hiatus, Seattle goth-punk outfit Aiden mark a return to usher in a new dawn in their chronicles, with frontman Wil Francis left as the only original member to fill the rest of the chapters.

The sharp, disorientating twangs of the miserable ‘Our Gang’s Dark Oath’ makes a sombre return in the one-minute-rager ‘Incinerate’, where vocalist Wil Francis reverts to a snarling teen disposition evident on the aforementioned record.

The band’s distinct punk thread is present again, subjecting listeners to macabre theatrical punk tinge that has secured the band as 00’s post-hardcore greats. ’Eternal Halloween’ has a dooming bounce that becomes a backdrop for Francis to narrate the sordid underbelly of the infamous holiday like a disciple of Danzig. Francis’ warning is personified in his own femme fatale – ”She’s out tonight with the devil’s hand and philistine eyes.”

’The Ceremony’ revives the heavy gloom ‘Conviction’-era that runs with an urgency that comes with the sudden impact of anger that Francis describes for the subject saying, “He was obliged to feel the hate of all mankind.”

On this self titled effort, Aiden have covered all the checkpoints of the band’s sound with a record that draws all their milestones together.

4/5

’Aiden’ by Aiden is released on 30th October.

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Words by Aaron Akeredolu (@boymostlikelyto)