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"Time, Unveiled" is the fourth release by Maryland's Aurora
Borealis, a one-man with studio drummer project which I really enjoy. Ron
Vento is the driving force behind this black / thrash unit, being not only the
songwriter, guitarist, bassist, vocalist and lyricist, but the man responsible
for the superb studio work. Having started off with Tony Laureano on drums for
the 1996 "Mansions Of Eternity" debut, Vento then recruited the elite Derek
Roddy for the next 2 albums, along with a bass player for the 2nd album,
1998's "Praise The Archaic Lights Embrace". Now on his own again, Vento
hired ex-Hate Eternal and current Agiel skin-basher Tim Yeung for this 9 song
effort. Yeung plows along with blistering blastbeats for a lot of the CD, but
breaks it up with nice percussion work in "Sky Burial" and some quarter and
half note grooves on "Searching". The riffs, as well as the vocals, remind
me a lot of Absu's magnificent "Tara" in spots, being of the
wrist-shredding melodic black metal variety with thrash tinges here and there.
"Reign" has a cool eerie intro to it, which is eventually overtaken by some
destructive aggression in a nice bit of musical innovation. The first 2 tracks
actually had no discernible ending to them, and instead faded out, initially
frightening me into thinking that this was one of those promo CD's full of
partial songs. Luckily I was mistaken, and am able to enjoy another powerful
release by Aurora Borealis. 2 bonus tracks are from Vento's previous band,
though they were recorded as A.B. songs on the "Mansions.." CD, and show
the roots of his current project. Lyrics on the album range from gladiatorial
combat to the Norse martial arts; there is actually a Nordic theme to the
artwork throughout, which I never grow tired of. I'd really recommend this
band to anyone into high speed black / thrash of the most extreme
leanings.
| Tracklist |
1. |
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Triumph Again 2. Sky Burial 3. Searching 4. Transversing |
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The Tide 5. Berserker 6. The Last Day 7. Reign 8. |
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Sixteenth Chamber 9. Slave To The Grave |
: 45.22
| Buy other Aurora Borealis albums |
