Aethellis - 2023 - The Affinity Oeuvre
(51:45; Melodic Revolution Records) 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 wit