Aura Noir - Out to Die (2012)

Out to Die isn't exactly a step 'backward' from the more tightened and refined sound of the last two albums, but it takes that songwriting and splashed in a measure of savagery from Deep Tracts of Hell. Right out of the starting gate, if there were any sort of divide between fans of this or that era, a track like "Trenches" would seem to unify them. Fast, vicious, perhaps not as dissonant as some of the later 90s material, but definitely matching the intensity, with a much stronger studio sound to support it. And it's no fluke, because the next few tunes also carry this violent momentum, like the material from Hades Rise has been given an injection of hell serum. It's not entirely a barrage, as you'll get offerings like "The Grin from the Gallows" or "Priest's Hellish Fiend" which channel more of that Sarke/Hellhammer vibe, but more often than not this thing blazes along without abandon.

Fortunately, that speed conceals loads of catchy, thrashing rhythm guitars nearly as catchy as the prior album, and this is probably the first album Aura Noir record I'd point to for fans of the last two decades of blackened speed and thrash which has become quite a prevailing trend (and I am there for it). Everything is precise, angry, and gives just a hint that it could lose control without doing so. The feet and fingers are getting a workout, riff after riff formed into a lethal execution like "Abbadon" or "Withheld" which make them sound like a much younger trio showing their chops. Another record like Hades Rise where the bass has a more formidable presence, although I do think the speed of the material relegates it more to a low end back seat. The raving TG Warrior/Culto barks are applied as rapidly as ever, with a lot more syllables spitting than their inspiration, and you get a lot of these raucous, sustained roars and snarls bounces back and forth between Appolyon and Aggressor, this really feels as if it might have the most diverse delivery.

All the songs are listenable, there might be a few minutes in which I find myself zoning out, but at 32 minutes I feel like it nails the same consistency they hit with The Merciless. I still hear all these little riff nods to earlier material from bands like Voivod and Sepultura, which might be in my imagination, but it ends up keeping the band in its own space, this doesn't sound like your usual derivative worship of Bathory and Venom, and honestly they never have, it's more as if you took the more aggressive side of earlier Celtic Frost and then turned it into a Death Race, where each lap they gradually apply another influence from the Teutonic or South American thrash, but it never becomes monotonous, as they will insert some more atmospheric or mid-paced passage to keep seizing the listener's attention. Great album, one or their better for sure.

Verdict: Win [8.5/10]

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