Artist: Angra
Label: Inside Out Records
Release: 2006
“Aurora Consurgens” is definitely a different beast from “Temple Of Shadows”. It’s inspired by an old book written by St. Thomas Aquinas, one that Jung supposedly used to draw connections between dreams and various mental states. That said, the album isn’t a concept record. Each track on “Aurora Consurgens” tackles one chosen state, just one of the many that can take hold of a person’s mind. Skim the track titles and it’s not hard to work out which one deals with suicidal urges, which with schizophrenia, manic depression, sociopathy,… With “Aurora Consurgens” Angra stay firmly recognizable in their niche, but they also serve up a somewhat different album, one with far more of a dark, obscure whiff than we’ve heard from them so far. The subconscious is full of black thoughts!
Interestingly, the album doesn’t have a single typical epic “straight between your teeth” power metal anthem with hit potential, or a track you could whistle at any time. Practically every Angra album up to “Aurora Consurgens” could boast that. This time, you won’t feel that bombast hitting you right off the bat through the “power metal drive”. Even Edu Falaschi’s vocal approach is a surprise, as he sticks resolutely to lower-pitched lines throughout. There isn’t a single ear-piercing scream on the record! And despite the punch of the album’s basically power metal production, the complex elements keep their heads down at first, but the more often you sit down to listen, the more weight they gain and the picture slowly fills in. By the end you realize the songs are built far more intricately than on “Rebirth” (2001) or “Temple Of Shadows” (2004), if we only look at the band’s albums from the new millennium. In terms of difficulty, this is one of the hardest albums to crack that the band has put out in their entire career. The funny thing is that on a first listen you can’t really tell right away, because the most listenable thing, the first thing that knocks on your ear, is precisely the melodic guitar harmonies, which are all over the place again and are typical of the classic melodic metal and “power metal” template. This is an album that needs time to crawl under your skin. Sudden rhythmic turns and “counter-rhythmic” broken-up switches are swarming all over it.
The production hits hard, and the riffing is solid and dominant. Of course, you can’t imagine Angra without Brazilian ethno-folk rhythms, “underrhythms” and the other recognizable melodic elements of that South American Castilian temperament. That has always given the band a welcome stamp of uniqueness and recognizability, and this time Angra haven’t forgotten about it either. So Near So Far is basically Carolina IV., matured and a decade older. The guitar duo of Loureiro and Bittencourt are once again a first-rate attraction of the album, and their polished guitar work, especially in terms of how tightly they play off each other, sets a quality standard that similar bands won’t reach for a long time, and it takes your breath away once more. Hellish picking over the riffs, something they inherited from Helloween and honed to perfection! Playing at extreme speed combined with a first-class feel for melody! Paganini on electric! It’s all wrapped in a complex layer of a colorful palette of rhythmic variety, which gives Angra their recognizable intellect, while the atmosphere is again guaranteed by a sprinkling of boldly chosen orchestral arrangements that only build on the band’s brainy side. Angra confirm their masterful skill, and the album earns a big extra plus for keeping all this complexity in the band’s hands in a way that the album’s flow isn’t damaged at a single point, even though it’s packed with some of the most headlong experimental escapes of the rhythm line and sheer guitar “furiousness” that previous Angra albums never had on such a scale. One of the typical tracks of this refined blending on the new record is Window To Nowhere.
“Aurora Consurgens” is the most mature Angra album to date, and its release is the best possible way for the band to mark the 15th anniversary of their existence. Angra prove they’re nowhere near running out of ideas that can still shock their loyal followers, as well as the rest of the music world.
Lineup
Edu Falaschi – vocals
Kiko Loureiro – guitar
Rafael Bittencourt – guitar
Aquiles Priester – drums
Felipe Andreolli – bass
Production
Dennis Ward
Tracklist
1. The Course of Nature (3:47)
2. Ego Painted Grey (5:49)
3. Salvation: Suicide (4:21)
4. The Voice Commanding You (5:29)
5. Passing By (6:31)
6. Breaking Ties (3:30)
7. Scream Your Heart Out (4:24)
8. Window to Nowhere (6:01)
9. So Near So Far (6:11)
10. Abandoned Fate (3:09)
Running time: 50.47
