Æther Realm - The Sun, The Moon, The Star 

it's amazing how this song makes twenty minutes feel like two

"I never knew sorrow / 'Til you asked me to follow my heart" hits me hard every time

"Okay fine, you can play ONE metal song..."

It's rare to find a 20 minute song that feels like a single song instead of a short EP

when i realized all that was one song....holy fuck what a great band

Thank you all for continuing to come here and listen to our work years later. We don’t have any live performances scheduled currently.

“After recording this the drummer passed out and could not be woken from his slumber for 3 days”

I'm an old school metal fan. Was listening to Dark Tranquility and Children of Bodom a long time ago. And then this song came along. It's almost not fair to any future metal songs to follow. This is perfection. I don't think any metal songs will ever beat this one.

With an aching heart, he cursed his name And nothing would shine as bright as her again - a manly tear fells of my face

The Sun, the Moon, the Stars Shine less brightly with you so far I never knew sorrow 'til you asked me to follow my heart For all the tales I told And these whispers of silver and gold I'd throw them all away To gaze on your face once more So beautiful

Can we all just appreciate how much has to be memorized to play this song? With only a couple repeating parts, this music is easy to get lost in for both those playing and those listening, i have nothing but respect for æther realm.

I don't care that this song is twenty minutes long, it's too fucking short.

I'm listening to this song for nearly 2 years now. HOW IS THIS NOT AN UNIVERSALLY RECOGNIZED METAL CLASSIC BY NOW?!

The whole composition really feels like a journey, told by some kind of lich who threw his humanity away in search of power and riches and is now reminiscing about the good old times, back when he was with his family. Now he's warning strangers not to share the same fate. Truly astonishing piece. Thank you for making it!

Even 5 years after I first heard this song, it still blows me away. A melodic death metal opera about a man who throws away his family, his love, and his home, in pursuit of power, wealth, and glory... only to realize that no matter how powerful he was, how much gold he had, and how much glory he earned, none of it was as satisfying as the life he'd abandoned. it's genuinely just a beautiful song.

This, Ladies and Gentlemen, is pure beauty and art. *bows deep*

This isnt even a song, this is an experience.

"This song is pretty co-" 7:08 *"THE SUN, THE MOON, THE STARS!"* "LET'S FUCKING GOOOOO"

"What genre is this" Yes.

I definitely haven't been listening to this on repeat for the past hour, Sidenote, thank you drum player for sacrificing your legs, guitar player for sacrificing your fingers, and singer for sacrificing your throat, to give us this amazing song.

I've always hated metal so much, "why would anyone listen to screams?" I said.... until I discovered this song, and omg ... i've listened to this song countless times now, and for this song in particular it feels like without that "aggressive" singing style the artists couldn't get across their message of the struggles of this one boy who left his home in pursuit of POWER. like real raw ultimate godly power. Then the contrast-elegant and peaceful "the sun the moon the stars" part just blows me away every single time . its sooooooo beautiful and calm... this is the reason why I stopped judging music before I listened to it .

It's rare that metal gets me emotional but this just packs the whole spectrum in there.. and then there's the last five minutes 😭😭 Such a perfect way to finish a song, finish an album - haven't heard anything like it before. I hope to hear another song like this one someday.

Æther Realm. I want to let you guys know: This is the best song in existence. It is basically the perfect mixture of melody, musical development and just never gets boring. Since I first heard this song, probably 4-5 months from now on, I was blown away. Have a great day, Some guy from Germany!

I would do anything to see her face once more and likewise nothing would shine as bright as her. I miss you mom. I really love this song especially the finale gets me really emotional. Thank you, and I wish everyone reading this the best in life.

Like I cannot verbally express how obsessed I am with this song

Lyrics: [Instrumental intro: 0:00-2:18] [Verse 1] Long been complacent with the hand I've been dealt Restless and weak, from the life that I've built So I'll journey afar, for there's glory to find And I'll fill out my entry in the annals of time Bid my farewell to the ones that I love Their grief but a fleeting feeling For nature is calling, my heart compelled Every branch, every leaf, has a story to tell [Instrumental interlude: 2:46-3:13] [Verse 2] Fear is swirling within me A tightening grip on my heart In a world where nothing is certain The fear of failure looms large, oh No room for these doubts I'll cast them away and take up my father's sword History favors the daring Only the brave will receive the eternal reward [Instrumental interlude: 3:44-4:07] [Verse 3] Will you be here ready to guide me? When I must leave this dream behind me? A beacon of hope, but fading away I have to let that light die, let it die [Instrumental interlude: 4:24-4:36] [Verse 4] Mother, Father, Sister I'm sorry for what I've done But the man I've become is no longer content with comfort And home [Instrumental interlude: 4:52-5:33] [Verse 5] Cold is the wind that chills me down to my bones And cold is the knowledge that for this I abandoned my home Cold is my sorrow, like a knife in my chest And cold is the path that I chose For what worth can be found in glory in the lands that I roam [Bridge] Raise your eyes, cast your gaze high And forget your sorrows [Instrumental interlude: 6:14-6:42] [Verse 6] Cold is the wind that chills me down to my bones And cold is the knowledge that for this I abandoned my home Cold is my sorrow, like a knife in my chest And cold is the path that I walk But I carry those memories close to my heart And remember them fondly when I gaze at The sun, the moon, stars [Instrumental interlude: 7:12-8:05] [Bridge] So we'll find our dreams fade in time Oh, in time our dreams leave us blind Leave us blind [Instrumental interlude: 8:36-9:28] [Bridge] By moonlight and starlight Those shadows led me astray Take comfort in darkness Hide me away from the light [Instrumental interlude: 9:56-10:05] [Verse 7] Hide with me from the light my child I'll show you another way Burn away your sorrow in the cleansing fire of power [Instrumental interlude: 10:32-11:30] Power [Verse 8] Colors swirling around me Shifting landscapes obey my every command But still I don't possess the power to fill the emptiness [Verse 9] Swallow and take what you thought you were meant to be And reconcile it with who you are Another lesson learned in time, but oh, you'll find You don't know what you want until it's gone [Instrumental interlude: 12:02-12:21] [Verse 10] I've hailed to the cosmic masters I've walked the astral plane and traveled to distant worlds Time like a river flows The one thing I don't have the power to change The only thing that matters [Instrumental interlude: 12:41-12:55] [Verse 11] Mother, Father, Sister I'm sorry for what I've done For the man I've become Finally knows the true power in home [Instrumental interlude: 13:10-13:46] [Verse 12] A broken legacy, a tale of tragedy Take heed my friends The path of pain isn't always The means to the end you seek [Instrumental interlude: 14:14-14:37] [Bridge] By moonlight and starlight I turn my gaze to the sky [Chorus] The sun, the moon, the stars Shine less brightly with you so far I never knew sorrow 'til you asked me to follow my heart For all the tales I told And these whispers of silver and gold I'd throw them all away To gaze on your face once more One more time The sun, the moon, the stars Shine less brightly with you so far I never knew sorrow 'til you asked me to follow my heart For all the tales I told And these whispers of silver and gold I'd throw them all away To gaze on your face once more One more time The sun, the moon, the stars Shine less brightly with you so far (With his burning brand, he split the skies) I never knew sorrow 'til you asked me to follow my heart (And blocked out the stars, one by one) For all the tales I told And these whispers of silver and gold (With an aching heart, he cursed his name) I'd throw them all away To gaze on your face once more (And nothing would shine as bright as her again) [Instrumental outro: 16:15-19:10]

16:00 "With an aching heart he cursed his name" He: Man, fuck me

This feels like taking a weird journey, in the best sense. It is kind of magical

never thought I'd actually sit down and listen to a 20 min song, this song is so magnetic

This is the best song I've ever heard. It's the perfect mix of melody and metal, a compelling story, beautifully written and masterfully composed. This is a masterwork, I don't think any piece in existence can top what this is. How it has only 1.4 million views at my time of writing this is baffling.

I love what you guys do, bless this circle clicking game that is osu for introducing me to your work. You guys rock, keep doing great!

As it currently stands, this is my favorite song of the year from my favorite album of the year.

5 years later and this is still easily one of my favorite songs I've ever heard. They really did just make an album based on Tarot Cards and combine three of them into the most banger of tracks

Never knew a metal song could make me ugly cry as hard as this one did, especially with those last five minutes. What an emotional rollercoaster of a masterpiece!

Dude, holy shit. Just came across this randomly after listening to Ne Obliviscaris - As Icicles Fall. I'm blown away. The whole thing felt like a beautiful amazing journey in another world, but wow. That last "The Sun, The Moon, The Stars" section at the end wrapped it up for me. That was phenomenal and I'm now a fan.

That skellyboi be like: "Yeah I know this card so basically i diagnose you with dead"

I swear, this song is written about me, word to word. I've left my home country, my life, my friends, my love everything in search of something great. ' Restless and weak for the life that i've built...For nature is calling, my heart compels' And then ' The man i become is no longer content with comfort and home' After almost a decade still having nightmares of my leaving, but i'm glad i've experienced what i experienced. 'I remember them fondly when i gaze at the sun, moon, stars' This song is like a mirror. For those who had something going for them, but made the dumbest life defining decision, leaving everything behind for nothing, then regretting it, then dealing with the sorrow and the emptiness. Absolutely brilliant songwriting.

This is no mere song, this is an epic journey of the soul.

00:00 - 19:10 best part

The Bohemian Rhapsody of Metal, no other words could describe this hidden gem of a song. Keep at it, you're definetly gonna go places! Much love from Slovenia ;)

this is most heartfelt hero's journey i've ever heard or even read, thank you aether, really helped me during a though time.

I'm a time traveler from 200 years in the future. Wintersun has just released Time II and it's amazing! Jari was finally able to crowdfund the 6 trillion dollars required for his sauna I mean studio. If you guys like Aether Realm and you're still alive in 200 years be sure to check it out!

I've listened to this 34 times in a row, while sleeping, while working, while studying and MOREEE!

this, The fires of ancient cosmic destiny(Gloryhammer), and call of darkness(Winterstorm) are my absolute favorite songs to just get lost in and imagine a long journey through a world of fantasy. all this way to defeat the dark lord only to realize I've gone mad with power and am no better than the evil I've just defeated. It's calming in a way.

Its not that I'm against long songs, I got plenty of 8-11 minute ones in my collection, but I never thought I could be so thoroughly impressed with such a long song. This'll be a semi-permanent member of my collection, at least a few decades.

I'm literally SO MAD that the riff from 0:41-0:55 is played only ONCE in the entire song -.-

I must have listened to this song more than a hundred times, and it is my favorite song of all times, way above every others. A lot of long songs are made long on purpose, with slow and repetitive riffs, and are boring. But this song manages to be fast and melodic during 19 minutes, with some of my favorite riffs, and a blend of folk and symphonic metal that makes it even more epic. And the lyrics are beautiful, it tells the entire story of the hero we followed though the album, in his hope, his quest for power and glory, and his slow realisation that he could never go back to the way things were (the riff at the end, taken from the first song of the album, that symbolizes his nostalgia and regret is pure genius). This song is a masterpiece and has gotten me through some hard times, and I cannot thank you enough for that. Keep up your great work, looking forward to see you live !!!

The lyrics hit me very hard and I cried. Then I watched the last 5 seconds of the video.

If I were at all a capable singer, this is the kind of band I would want to form. It's heavy, intense, beautiful, multi-facetted in it's tone and tempo, and just all around creative. Don't even get me started on how much I love and appreciate the lyrics from a writer's standpoint. I'm accustomed to writing books, short stories, and even the occasional poem, but that's by no means the same thing as being able to create substantive lyrics to songs and it's something I hope I can learn someday.

Okay, after a good month of listening to some of your songs, I must say you guys have cemented yourselves as one of my favorite music producers. You managed to take a genre I don't normally like, and make it something I love, amazing job for that.

It's incredibly impressive that they wrote a 20 minute song that's so fun to listen to that you easily get lost in time and it never grows stale

Okay, I'm listening this song for... I do'nt even know anymore how often I listened to this song on repeat. But I just read the lyrics while listening to this song and the more I followed the lyrics the more amazed I actually was. You have to know... I'm a role player and have a character with a pretty long backstory. A story where he abandoned his family. He made many descisions of which many weren't the best in his life and he agonizes over the descisions he made which let to him having a pretty lonesome life. He seeks powers he can wield to somehow compensate for his losses. Yet they can never actually replace these feelings of emptiness. And his realization that he already had everthing he could've wanted but he CHOSE to let it go. THIS SONG hits his story really well and I actually had tears in my eyes the more I actually realized this. It may not mean much for you and I know you didn't write this song knowing this. But still... Thank you for writing this song. I really... REALLY love this song now.

Still here in 2024. What I would pay to see this live. The vocal break at 7 minutes gets me every single time.

I am very grateful for random YT recommendations right now

I can safely say I’ve never heard anything quite like this. I was captivated the whole time, those 19 minutes might as well have been 19 seconds. Incredible piece here!

God damn, I can't thank you enough for simply existing. Thank you x3000

I have never before encounter a song that hit my heart so deeply as this one. Is mesmerizing... is art in the purest form. The tale, the heart and the sorrow in it takes me to places where I have only dream of. I feel like this is the history that my life has been. Thank you for existing thank you for making this masterpiece. From the bottom of my heart thank you....

I think i heard this for the first time about a month ago, maybe less. Since then, I've listened to it more times than I can recall. I'm the kind of guy who will listen to the same album on repeat all night. Music is everything to me. I've listened to this one song more than some of the albums I thoroughly enjoy in my music library. The last song I heard that captivated me the way this does was Lord Belial's "Realm of a Thousand Burning Souls," which I first heard over 3 years ago. This is truly a masterpiece.

this sounds like its actually being sung by skeletons, with lyrics found in a lich's diary fucking awesome

I was letting RU-vid play random songs with its autoplay and it was around the 3:30 mark I took notice as to what I was hearing. The music was so good. I have never heard this song or the band but this is so good and such a welcome break from my deathcore that I usually listen to. I instasubbed. Can't wait to listen to y'alls other songs once I'm done listening to this!

finding out and getting heavily into metal was not something i expected to come along with playing osu. god bless

When i first heard this i was kinda weary about how long it was and almost clicked off. Glad i didnt cuz this, this right here is a dope track

Heard just the first 2 minutes of this song and instantly went to listen to the entire album. Listening to this song in completion along with the rest of the album is insane. I haven't been so entranced and taken by an album since I listened to Time I by Wintersun. Truly a thing of beauty.

I've heard this song continuously 6 times back to back after listening to it for the first time. Loved it. Really a great song.

Only for this song. Only for this song i'm gonna buy the physical album.

That vocal switch at 14:50, a curse if it doesn't provide the perfect reset going into the final act! Elevates the entire piece.

i think this is the closest any song has ever come to true art. the journey of the man in this song can be felt on such an incredible level. his burning ambition and fear in the beginning, his lust for power in the middle and eventual realisation that it was not worth it in the end is so beautiful. i cant believe how good this song is lol.

15:54 "I've fucked up the stars, one by one"

All the build up made until 13:15 makes this part so good it's crazy, I don't know why I get goosebumps everytime I hear that part. I's slow, calm and intense as well! This song is soooo good overall!!

Just discovered this song randomly a few days ago yes my replay button is broken now yes I added all of Æther Realm's songs to my Spotify No I do not need help

This song is an absolute masterpiece.

They say it takes 10,000 hours to master a skill, and I would respond that it takes a mere 10,000 minutes to become a SuperFan(listening to this song 500+ times). You guys are fucking legends!

Aether realm is the best and very underrated band!! The guys keep the whole song for a long time and keep the perfect balance of vocals, guitar and drums!!! In my opinion this is the best rock song I have ever heard!! While listening to this song, I want to go to an empty field and look at the stars... At they say: By moonlight and Starlight I turn my gaze to the sky!

I don't comment often but I just wanted to say this is the best song I have ever heard, it is definitely a masterpiece.

It's funny how I never liked music with harsh screamo vocals before, but this music really made me feel emotions I thought I'd have long become numb to.

they're not the next ensiferum or wintersun, they're the first aether realm

14:50

i need more songs/stuff like the ending 17:42 in this, it’s so beautiful

This song is a roller coster of emotions, so brutal, so alive, melodic.....great music on every level

The ending easter egg was an absolute treat

This band alone made this the best year so far for me, in terms of finding amazing songs by amazing bands.

I wish that I'd met a woman who loved this song as much as I do...oh hang on, I think I may have! One night, when I was hammered, I shared this song with her(a friend I've been kinda keen on for a while), along with some of the lyrics, and as a fellow guitarist, she surprisingly loved it! I hope that we both find the Sun, the Moon, the Star ❤️

This isn't a song..... This is an anthem

Never liked metal, don't think I ever will but this song is an exception. this is a masterpiece.

I found Aether Realm about a month or two ago and I can't stop listening to this album. I'm sad it took me so long to find them but I'm glad I have

14:51 really just got me in tears. It's so beautiful

One of the best songs and If you split it in half you’d have two of the best there is not a single mediocre moment in the entire song and it’s definitely worth the time to listen to truly a masterpiece.

It's been like a year that I discover this song, I play it every day, what is this magic ?

Thank you Aether Realm. I took a trip across the country and heard you in Kansas. From Maine and back to Arizona you spoke to my heart. Through Death and everything between.

I had never paid attention to the last five seconds. truly a modern classic.

A friend showed me this around a week ago and I listened to it once and didn't think much past it other than oh cool. But...once I listened in deeply once. I eventually hit the replay button, and again, and again. and Now i've heard this song atleast several times each day. Even now, what I just loved as a song. As I truly read and keep up with the lyrics, goosebumps. A very beautiful, yet tragic adventure and journey. That only now do I understand. Outstanding, definitely up with the classics such as "And then there was silence".

This song’s story is actually very beautiful. I kinda wish there was a book about this or something, because I would totally read it.

You might not like it, but this is what peak metal performance looks like.

this song still brings me to tears sometimes man.....

Came across this while browsing weekly recommendations on Spotify. Best thing that happened to me in quite a while. Love you guys.

This is a masterpiece of art, its perfection.

This is Hands down the best Song ever written(imo) , i can't even put it into words how listening to it makes me feel. Thank you Aether Realm for this absolute masterpiece. I love Every second of it.

This song is just way too beautiful. From the sound to the lyrics, it's so emotionally-invoking and perfect, a beautiful feeling in the mind.

After 14 minutes of having your face blasted off, the last 5 minutes slowly heals you back to perfect health. What a beauty this track is.

🙏...มันชั่ง สุขุม ศิลป์ sounds โดย เฉพาะ กระเดื่อง เหมือนมันจะ บั่นเป็นครั้งสุดท้าย ของชีวิต ยังงัยยังงั้น!🇹🇭🤘.ขอบคุณอีกครั้ง.