Eschaton is the first full-length album from Southampton’s Waking Aida. It’s also the first full-length put out wholly by label Robot Needs Home. Knowing the album was produced by Maybeshewill bassist Jamie Ward, I had high expectations for this album. Expectations, I assumed, that would be unrealistic.

Luckily, I was wrong.

The noise builds throughout ‘Intro’ and you’ll listen expecting loud, heavy, distorted metal guitar to suddenly kick in. However, when ‘Incandenza’ commences, the tone immediately changes. The clean guitars are more in keeping with The Physics House Band or even Foals. The song is crafted in a similar way to Brontide or From Monument To Masses, with multiple layers of guitar. But it doesn’t get repetitive at all, which is incredibly impressive for a song almost 9 minutes in length.

This variety of the songs make it hard to review as I normally do, as each song seems to contain at least two or three movements, similar to Godspeed! You Black Emperor, but rest assured they are all very good. Throughout a single song you can hear similarities to half a dozen bands, but there’s a very real chance Waking Aida have done it better. Special mentions should go to ‘How To Build a Space Station’ and ‘Your Tiny Voice Is Booming’ but it’s hard to choose a favourite song, and my opinion seems to change every time I listen to the album.

It’s unusual for a post rock album to feature some of the funkiest bass lines I’ve heard, but it is definitely not a bad thing. The bass lines don’t detract from the songs, and the whole thing fits together so well. They really sound like a band who loves doing what they do.

Overall, my expectations were blown away with album. It’s definitely one of my favourite albums of the year so far; if not my favourite. The songs change frequently, and you will definitely find yourself nodding along, or even humming the guitar parts. Similar to From Monument to Masses and Double Handsome Dragons, Waking Aida use spoken samples rather than any singing. However, they’re not simply copying their influences, they are good enough to make sure they have a unique sound.

If you like any of the bands mentioned in this review, then I seriously suggest giving Waking Aida a listen. And probably some money.

– Alex Ryan