While listening to Canadian death metal trio Auroch’s debut LP “From
Forgotten Worlds,” I couldn’t help but consider the contrast between
the United States and Canada. For as can be clearly seen, my native land is a superficial wasteland justifiably
associated with murder, racism, sexism, high blood pressure and a huge, gaping abyss
between the rich and poor that also enjoys picking on other countries and being
an overall cunt. Canada on the other hand…well. They seem so much nicer – much easier
access to pills to pop, incredibly low crime rates and a higher quality of life, even among the elderly. The
world doesn’t hate them, either.
However, underneath that serene, maple-flavored layer of
compassion there must be some long-hidden demand for aggression, some demand for dark gods of
revenge and retribution. And what better place to seek inspiration for
articulating these urges than America, the superpower that perfected all things
on the left-hand path? Hell, it’s all over America’s history, from past to
present to the imminent future. So Ican't help but feel it likely that this explains the foundation of the music
of Auroch, a trio of dudes that plays what they call “Lovecraftian metal” – horror-inspired
music to scar the soul, express the fears of the unknown and relish in the
fever felt through blood bells chiming. I hope the band visits Lovecraft’s corpse
and performs on the spot – undeniably, his corpse would rise and start
narrating The Call of Cthulu to the sounds of “Fleshless Ascension” and crack a rare smile.
“From Forgotten Realms” effectively embodies everything one
could ask for in an undeniably metal album; no quarter for anything that could
even remotely take away from the mood of the album. While unprecedented amounts
of metal bands are running the gamut on expanding their sound from jangly
techno beats to djent to thick reverb layer cake, Auroch feels like a band that
collectively pulled a Rip Van Winkle, knocking out in 1992 and waking up just a
few months ago. Strong songwriting makes this album less a plunderphonics grab and go spree
and more of a very strong, cohesive gust of refreshing, northern Arctic wind. All throughout
“From Forgotten Realms” the trio serves up heapings of raw cookie monster
vocals, guitar solos, high pitched cries of ecstasy, pounding ritualistic drums
and wonderful anachronistic lyrics about opening portals, listings of
Lovecraftian deities and the feeling that your mind is being shredded into
strips of fajita meat because you cannot fathom the incomprehensible tongues
the band is invading your mind with. Indeed, the trio of Sebastian Montesi, Zack Chandler
and Paul Ouzounov deserve well-earned praise for taking tried-and-true elements
and working them into a ludicrously effective blitz on what sacredness remains
in everyday life.
Far too often, nostalgia is the impetus for inspiring new
artists to create music. Sometimes these musicians succeed in their homages by taking
a refreshing look on old material while others, more often than not, fail by
coming off as carbon-copies unworthy of hard disk space. (Good thing we have YouTube.) Indeed, that latter
category has raised the ire of many people with keyboards at hand, who are more
than happy to tell you that “X band sucks because they sound just like Y band.”
But sometimes a throwback to the past is just what we need; with their penchant
for impressive riffage and murky oceanic vocals, Auroch manages to not
only live in the past, but prosper in the present.
-Shane D
-Shane D
No comments:
Post a Comment