Aura Noir - Out To Die
Indie Recordings
Black/Thrash Metal
8 songs (32:37)
Release year: 2012
Aura Noir, Indie Recordings
Reviewed by Goat

As the by-word in underground circles for that undervalued crossover that is blackened thrash metal, Aura Noir are highly regarded indeed, and fifth full-length Out To Die is fine proof of why, if the teensieth bit of a bit of a step-down in quality from 2008's excellent Hades Rise. Fear not, although not up there with the (g)ripping beauty of Black Thrash Attack or even The Merciless, Out To Die is still a very good album that will thoroughly rock your grim and frostbitten socks. You certainly won't be complaining on your first, or tenth, listen whilst the likes of Trenches rip across your eardrums, howling solos and buzzsaw riffage pumelling constantly - the perfect unification of thrash and black metal, complete with a lovely crunchy breakdown. Fed To The Flames' nicely melodic soloing and powerful 'ugh!' at the exact right moment will have you horn-throwing like there's no tomorrow, and Abaddon's Satanic fury is what headbanging was invented for.

There's not a great deal that you can write about music this thrilling, although the slower, more epic The Grin From The Gallows makes for a nice mid-album break that brings groove to the table and makes damn good use of it. After that, it's back to the thrash with Withheld's gallop, and the slightly odd Priest's Hellish Fiend which is my pick for the album's poorest track but alone is catchier than anything Slayer have come up with of late. A closing one-two with Deathwish and the title track's single-minded pulverisation and you're left with a kickass if all too short album that will more than please anyone who said 'Aura Noir, fuck yeah!' when they saw this review.

Killing Songs :
Trenches, Fed To The Flames, Abaddon, The Grin From The Gallows, Withheld, Deathwish, Out To Die
Goat quoted 81 / 100
Other albums by Aura Noir that we have reviewed:
Aura Noir - Aura Noire reviewed by Goat and quoted 85 / 100
Aura Noir - Black Thrash Attack reviewed by Tony and quoted 87 / 100
Aura Noir - Hades Rise reviewed by Goat and quoted 83 / 100
Aura Noir - The Merciless reviewed by Daniel and quoted 81 / 100
0 readers voted
Average:
 0
You did not vote yet.
Vote now

There are 3 replies to this review. Last one on Thu Aug 30, 2012 10:13 pm
View and Post comments