Aura

Nice to hear death metal with a genuinely distinctive character, even if only for the duration of a short EP. Bölzer, from Switzerland, bear some slight comparison to the current wave of primitivist extreme metal- indeed, the vocalist has just got a job in current underground death leaders Witchrist. Certainly, at times their music is comparably rumbling and hostile. At other times it is also filled with a radiant melodic energy of a sort that is quite unique within the confines of this genre. The result… Intrigue!

First track CME begins with slow, sludgy feedback which hints at the influence of the likes of Witchrist or Encoffination. But, after a minute, the drums spur an acceleration into a turbulent melodic hook, subtly accentuated by keys. It is an intense, dramatic piece of music, but it is nothing on the follow-up track, Entranced by the Wolfshook. This, unquestionably, is a contender for my death metal song of the year- rivalled only by about four of the songs from Tribulation’s latest. It launches itself with a gorgeous, elongated melodic blast riff; it’s almost like… imagine that great tune from Deathspell Omega’s Sola Fide I, but in an bright major key, and accompanied by borderline-funky hammond organ. Both exhilarating and disorienting.

On side B, we have a much longer single track, The Great Unifier. Here, things get darker and more in line with the harsher bands namedropped previously. At ten minutes long, it is for much fof the time slower and more abstract, but it still experiences surges of bursting pace. Something suitably dark, to counterbalance the curious uplift of the preceding ten minutes. Great. Hopefully it won’t be too long until we get a full-length.