MLP Album Review: Forest Rain - Aetheria
Check out Forest Rain's new album about pirates, war, and love! Aetheria!
Forest Rain is a staple fandom artist. Since early 2012 she's been making pony music, and she still makes regular appearances at conventions. Songs like Join The Herd and Great To Be Different are unforgettable classics.
It's been a while since we'd heard new music. Forest Rain's last original work, the concept album The End Of The World, is from 2019, shortly before the FiM series finale. After that, it was quiet for a few years, with only Great To Be Different being re-released for the songs 10 year anniversary. In 2023 we finally got to hear new stuff, as Ponies At Dawn: Pandemonium saw Soaring Hearts, a raw pirate rock song. It turned out that this was going to be the opener to a new concept album, Aetheria, featuring a cast of 19 singers. It just dropped so let's dive right into it!
1. Soaring Hearts
The album starts off with the P@D release. It sets the stage for the world we are about to explore, Aetheria. This world is basically a creative spin on Equestria, where a generations-long war has been waging between two factions: the noble Sky Kings and the dreaded Pirates. The first verse is sung by the Pirates, who live freely on the lawless seas. A military drum then introduces the Sky Kings, Aetheria's Air Force that seeks to bring peace and security to the realm.
The part where the Pirates and Sky Kings sing over each other introduces the key plot point: Aetheria is a world once full of magic, that has suddenly vanished (reminiscent of, but otherwise unrelated to, the MLP G5 Movie). Both factions blame each other for this incident, and presumably, this kicked off the entire conflict.
2. What Was Lost
We now get a much heavier and more tragic perspective on this war. We're listening to a choir of spirits, the ones who have fallen or perished. It appears that only the dead understand the senselessness of all this fighting, and indeed, are the only ones who dare to cling on to hope.
I can't help but think of The End Of The World here, because that too is an album about war, fighting, and the many different emotions that are evoked by it. After a pessimistic turn, the main character learns this the hard way as her close friend tragically dies. The last line on the second to last song goes, "And if you happen to be looking down from the heavens far above / You helped us to remember: we're better off with love" Sounds familiar?
3. Dance of Blades
Back to the action! The lyrics do a fine job at explaining what's going on: the Sky Kings, under General Anemone (played by Koa), have found the Pirate hideout and launch a full-on assault. Anemone is locked into a duel with Hyacinth (played by SparkleChord). Their differences are clear in their language, fighting style, and titles (General Anemone Silverwing, General of the Sky Kings Air Force, versus just Hyacinth). We also get some moral ambiguity here, with the line "as free folk fight for hope" referring presumably to the Pirates.
But despite being polar opposites, Anemone and Hyacinth discover a mutual respect, or even more...
4. What We're Fighting For
We're now treated to the energetic apex of the album. With the sudden setting switch to a marooned beach, the affectionate bickering, and that sweet synth leading into the song, I can't shake the idea that I'm about to watch some great buddy movie. The song further explores the relationship between the two warriors, as respect blooms into love. And those "echoes, voices from another past?" Those are the spirits, who recognize and wholeheartedly approve of their unlikely bond.
This song is just pure vibes, and it's begging to be heard live.
5. The Snake
First off, hats off to Luna Jax for that excellent performance as the smuggler. Suave, coldblooded, and yet respectable. Even though this is his only appearance, the smuggler breathes personality. He's found Anemone hanging out with a Pirate and demands a bribe in exchange for keeping quiet, and he's clearly in it for the money. But at the same time, he claims to champion the cause of the poor, implying that the Sky Kings hoard foodstuffs and materials the common folk needs to live, and thereby force them to choose between stealing and starving. How much of his intentions are truly good can't be said, but the fact that Anemone doesn't protest suggests there is truth to his accusations.
6. Say You Love Me
If you love romantic power ballads, this is everything you want. I just can't help but hum the tune at random times, Koa and SparkleChord clearly threw everything they had into this song.
In going all out like this, the song does risk standing out from the rest of the album. Only in the first verse is it possible to really tell it's Anemone's part, and there's very little remaining of Hyachinth's rowdiness.
7. 500 Years
It seems that the smuggler (or his crew) has not managed to keep completely quiet. Or maybe word spread some other way. Both factions learn about a traitor in their midst, and prepare to deal with this. For Sky Kings and Pirates alike, this treason is on the pain of a nasty corporal punishment and probably death.
This song gives some much-needed perspective from both sides, making you feel the gravity of the situation. For a 500 year feud, they are sadly short on specifics, though the word "genocide" gives a clear idea of what each may have experienced.
8. War
(Note to self: never betray a pirate.) Man, Crackinglazer is putting down a truly terrifying Pirate King act. His hollering insults sends shivers down my spine every time I listen to it. They found out about Hyacinth, and now she's facing ugly retribution. But just in that moment, the Air Force had the Pirates in its crosshairs. This seems to be pure coincidence, judging from Anemone's surprise at seeing Hyacinth there, strapped to the bow.
To her second-in-command's surprise, Anemone calls off the assault in an attempt to save Hyacinth. When she admits that she was the rumoured traitor, the Airman takes matters in his own hands and fires his gun at Hyacinth. (I will just add that the dialogue and pacing of this last part is superb.)
9. Crack in the Dam
Forest Rain narrates how this brought about the return of magic to Aetheria. The suspense is right, but there is nothing "playing out" here, it's very direct narration. Maybe this could have been played by the Spirits? That may have also lessened the deus ex machina-esque feeling of this twist.
The dam has burst open, magic is flooding into Aetheria, and Hyacinth has been resurrected from the bullet that just killed her.
10. Hope
Love conquers all. Forest Rain pays a heartfelt tribute to Anemone and Hyacinth, thanks to them, harmony is restored and we're finally ready to build a new world. I hope I'm right in noticing that "Their color a deep purple hue" and "The rivers return and spin old water wheels" are thematic nods to the two protagonists. We even get a reprise of Say You Love Me, with the Air Force and the Pirates taking part, too. And how cathartic is that final line, "But after 500 years of this / It finally is enough..."
Just like in The End Of The World, we find ourselves before a future that's hopeful, but ultimately up to ourselves to shape. In that album, that peace only came when the war had fully blown its course and claimed its victims. Aetheria is much more fantastical and optimistic, giving us a careful but altogether warm resolution. Both sides yearn for peace, and no lives have been claimed from the main cast. It's an ending as happy as you can get it.
11. Song of New Horizons
The album could perfectly have ended with Hope on a bittersweet note. But seriously, a pirate album that doesn't end with a party overflowing with rum and cider? Are you crazy?! I love it when an album has a double finale like this.
Final thoughts
Aetheria is a solid album that tells a story with songs that are catchy and memorable, collectively but also on their own. At a few instances (Dance of Blades, Crack in the Dam), the exposition gets a bit heavy-handed, but it is always carried by excellent voicework. Again, props to everyone involved. I wish the smuggler and the airman from War had names (if only just outside the songs), so I didn't have to refer to them by these vague titles—though really that in no way affects the listening experience.
As a final note, there's some vagueness about what kind of world Aetheria exactly is. This is clearly an MLP album with MLP fandom artists, but there is no reference to this, no telltale words like "pony" or "hooves". Dance of Blades mentions hippogriffs, but the cover art shows characters in the anthro pony style. It will be up to the reader how to picture this.
If you enjoyed the album, you can subscribe to Forest Rain on YouTube and buy Aetheria on Bandcamp!
-DuxTape
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