If there is one thing that the man behind the progressive death band Æthereal has never lacked, it’s vision. In early 2008, Phil Creswell—then a student studying Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison—decided that he was going to buckle down and write an album that had been kicking around in the recesses of his brain since he had left his first band, the well-respected Wisconsin death metal band Dumah.
The full length demo that would become Premonitions had been a story that had kicked around in Phil’s head for a long time, but that had never come to fruition in any other kind of medium. Frustrated with the way that things were shaping up, he began to write these tracks and demoing them in GarageBand on his laptop—the method by which he would record the entire demo. During this time, Phil also relocated to Umeå, Sweden—home of one of Sweden’s biggest alternative scenes throughout the 80s and 90s. In a tiny, dingy student room in the dark of winter, Phil sat down and pounded out 55 minutes of music that would become Premonitions. The demo would be released via Black Goat Records, finally, on the 15th of August, 2008, with a logo and lettering by the Lord of Logos himself, Christophe Szpajdel.
Premonitions was well-received, sold out from Black Goat Records and is now only available for download on the project’s Band Camp profile. Æthereal was also rewarded with the “Broken Ground Award”, which was awarded to the “best progressive band” from Wisconsin in 2009, beating out Luna Mortis and several others for the award.
Since then, Phil has been working on new material and new concepts. There are two separate Æthereal projects in the works right now. The first, an EP, is scheduled to be released in the summer or fall of 2010. The second, a full length concept record is being worked on as well—this record will also be a departure from the first album stylistically. “In the end, Æthereal is about doing whatever I want to do,” he explains. “It’s about playing metal without being bound down to one specific genre or anything. Æthereal is exactly what the name describes: ever-changing and amorphous. It gives room for progression and experimentation and that’s what I want. The best metal bands never slow down—they’re always experimenting, changing and growing. That’s what I want. That’s my vision.”
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The full length demo that would become Premonitions had been a story that had kicked around in Phil’s head for a long time, but that had never come to fruition in any other kind of medium. Frustrated with the way that things were shaping up, he began to write these tracks and demoing them in GarageBand on his laptop—the method by which he would record the entire demo. During this time, Phil also relocated to Umeå, Sweden—home of one of Sweden’s biggest alternative scenes throughout the 80s and 90s. In a tiny, dingy student room in the dark of winter, Phil sat down and pounded out 55 minutes of music that would become Premonitions. The demo would be released via Black Goat Records, finally, on the 15th of August, 2008, with a logo and lettering by the Lord of Logos himself, Christophe Szpajdel.
Since then, Phil has been working on new material and new concepts. There are two separate Æthereal projects in the works right now. The first, an EP, is scheduled to be released in the summer or fall of 2010. The second, a full length concept record is being worked on as well—this record will also be a departure from the first album stylistically. “In the end, Æthereal is about doing whatever I want to do,” he explains. “It’s about playing metal without being bound down to one specific genre or anything. Æthereal is exactly what the name describes: ever-changing and amorphous. It gives room for progression and experimentation and that’s what I want. The best metal bands never slow down—they’re always experimenting, changing and growing. That’s what I want. That’s my vision.”