Aura Noir - The Merciless (2004)

The Merciless was definitely the juncture where my attention to Aura Noir started to grow, from a mere appreciation to genuine interest. The sound has been tidied up to an extent, with a cleaner mix, and while I can understand how this would prove a turn-off from some listeners, there was just something captivating about the vibe. Songwriting would definitely lean further into the Celtic Frost, Hellhammer, Darkthrone sphere, even going so far as to make a reference in the opener's title, with Fenriz providing some guest vox! You can hear those primeval Swiss grooves in tracks like "Condor" and the awesome "Black Deluge Nigh", while the vocals continue to wield a heavy Tom G. Warrior intonation throughout; actually it's probably closer to Nocturno Culto's interpretation of that style, which I'm a huge fan of to begin with.

Note that they were doing this right before Darkthrone's own transformation towards exploring more speed, heavy metal and punk influences, but this doesn't quite come across like The Cult is Alive or Dark Thrones and Black Flags. It's somewhat a more streamlined version of the two albums before it, on cuts like "Funeral Thrash" or "Merciless", which flail about with an aggressive, thrashing abandon, but lack the sewer-like production aesthetics of Deep Tracts of Hell. There's nothing necessarily 'weaker' to the sound, no softening, it just feels much cleaner and like you're hearing a solid, organic performance in a rehearsal recording rather than the skin-peeling filth. The material does tend towards slower or middle pacing, but not so much as some of the later works. Riffs are nothing novel, but definitely drop some of the old Sodom and Kreator inspiration for more of that Hellhammer and perhaps some archaic Slayer if they were moving around half speed. Blasphemer/Rune Eriksen has returned for some guitars, having skipped the second album, and I think in this department the band does feel a bit stronger and more consistent, although there's nothing tremendously technical or nuanced here, they keep it pretty straightforward.

The bass still doesn't play a major role, usually buried beneath the rhythm guitars, but I do feel as if I can notice it slightly more, while the drums sound great as they shuffle through their grooves and the moderate blast beats they'll mete out to accompany one of the nastier thrash licks. I also really appreciate the continued commitment to having quality lyrics, as with the previous albums; in this way too they resemble the evolution of Darkthrone, albeit with slightly less of a tendency towards the tongue-in-cheek obscuring the deeper meaning...yes, a tune like "Funeral Thrash" is pretty much straight up silly self-flagellation of its genre, but then "Black Deluge Night" and "Black Metal Jaw" and others have a lot of great imagery in there. The Merciless isn't quite 'sea change' level for Aura Noir, but it definitely honed in and expressed the band's love of primitive thrash and black metal in a way that hooked me more than the first few attempts, which were good, but when I'm preparing my playlists of the band's material this is where I start to draw more selections.

Verdict: Win [8.5/10]

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