In 2008, Aura Noir exceeded my expectations with the superb 'Hades Rise'. An album full of catchy old school blackened thrash songs and so many memorable moments right through from riffs, to lyrics to vocals and so on. For me, it felt like a modern day 'Morbid Tales'. With their new album, 'Out To Die', I was hoping for another fantastic effort.
Sadly, I don't find this album anywhere near 'Hades Rise'. It's not that I don't like it. There is much to like. A lot of the riffs are good and are catchy. They are dirty, raw thrashing riffs that have a strike to them. Also a sense of technicality and some of those solos shriek. Apollyon and Aggressor's vocals again have that dirty feel as they both shout their lyrics with attitude. I like how they always sound so cocky.
And that is about where it stops. There is not much here that is memorable like on 'Hades Rise'. On 'Hades Rise', you remember the songs. Why? Because riffs like the ones on 'Unleash The Demon', 'Shadows Of Death' and the title track for example stood out. And the song titles were etched in your mind forever because they were shouting the song titles in your face in the chorus of their songs. I mean who can forget the endless repeated shouting 'The Stalker, the stalker...' on 'The Stalker' for example?
The only time I find anything totally memorable on 'Out To Die' is on the songs 'The Grin From The Gallows' with its catchy rocking opening and Aggressor's shouting and the way he opens most of the lines with 'I am...' which has that cocky attitude behind it I spoke of before. The only other memorable song I pick up on is the galloping 'Priests Hellish Fiend' where the song title is called out in the chorus.
I wanted more and I guess that is why I am not enjoying this so much. Yes, the album does rock but that is it really. On its own, it is a good album, but next to 'Hades Rise', 'Black Thrash Attack' and even 'The Merciless', it falls short. Maybe in time, it will grow on me more. We'll see.
Ikil
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