REVIEW: AURORA BOREALIS - NORTHERN LIGHTS

 

AURORA BOREALIS - NORTHERN LIGHTS (Diehard Music, 2001):

Technical data:

Recorded at Nightsky Studios, Oct-Dec. 1999

Engineered and Produced by Ron Vento. Mastered at IQ Studios

Front Cover Art: Jay Marsh

Track List: 1-Thrice Told, 2- Enter the Halls, 3- Images in the Nightsky, 4- Draco, 5-Sky Dweller, 6- Hydrah, 7-Dream God, 8- Hydrah, 9- Dream God, 10- Distant. European bonus tracks: 11- War of the Rings, 12- Offerings of Jade and Blood, 13- Constellations Embellished with Chaos, 14- Aggressive Dynasty, 15 - Calm Before the Storm.

I published the review of this CD some issues back when Ron Vento sent me the CD. Now the guys in Diehard Music have issued this great album but containing five bonus tracks for Europe. The music is fast, direct black/death metal with good fast drumming with lots of double bass patterns. Interesting guitar riffs, specially the more original ones like on "Enter the Halls" (0:19) or the beginning of "Hydrah". The bonus tracks here are not so good sounding on the guitar like the rest of the recording but they have killer drumming (listen to the beginning of "War of the rings") and an interesting bass sound. Here the mix is lacking a little bit of depth on the guitars but the songs are really good ones and it shows the evolution that Aurora Borealis has gone through. Contact: www.diehardmusic.com or diehard@diehardmusic.com