Musically it is a mixture of a lot of influences from quite modern heavy metal to quite fine tuned ballads but all held together with a uniting sound making it sound coherent despite the mixed nature of the songs. They do have a cover of one of the best songs ever recorded, Zombie made in original by The Cranberries. But don’t now go believing that Claudia or Klod as they call her for some reason, sounds just like Dolores because that is not so. She has a rather powerful straight rocking voice when she wants and a fine tuned voice in the ballads, I would say that she has an emotional way of singing. I think the melodies range from quite typical rock melodies to some atypical and different ones, there is a good variation on this album and still the eleven tracks are kept in check with an unifying sound as I stated already. The album it plays for little over 46 minutes and the production does not show any traces of being a debut, the sound is clean yet powerful and modern, so on the production side they are doing really well.
Believe Me is the name of the opening track and that is one decent track, not fantastic and not quite representative of the album but still a track that makes you take notice of the band. But it is after that it really begins with a proverbial smash in the face when track two comes alive, it is called Desert Flower and is just a fantastic track and it really makes you take notice of the band with being a song where everything is exactly right, close to a perfect song it is. Then we have the third track That’s Why You Die which is another killer track and now you are starting to think in big numbers and that is even before you come to the next track. Track four, Smile is one killer ballad that blows most other ballads I have heard out of the water and at this moment I am starting to smile and to spin my superlative globe to find the right superlatives for this album and now I am starting to look at really high numbers. Track five then becomes a disappointment as it is quite weak compared to the earlier but still a quite good song no doubt about that. Next track is another calm balladish one called Looking for the one which is really good but recalling Smile it feels weak, it should probably be a bit further down in the tracklist to allow you to take in Smile completely. The next three tracks are all quite alright but they are not as good as what has passed which is why the thought of the superlatives fades and the numbers go down a little. But it takes on a new breath of fresh air in the title track which is the penultimate track and is another memorable one which makes me look in the direction of the superlatives again but weighing the parts of the album against one another those have to wait for a later album. It all ends with Zombie which is made with the band’s own touch but not really that much to spend letters on if I’m honest.
So, I would say that there are some amazing stuff going on on this album but it being somewhat let down by a group of average rock track which is sad because it really has some timeless tracks on here and with one or two more it would be a whole other story. But thinking that this is a debut it makes one wonder what these guys will be capable of when they learn to build a complete album, maybe the next seven pointer I give (revealing that there is no album close to such a score in the 30-35 that I am working on right now). So, smile Absynth Aura as this album is clearly a show of force and a real treat for anyone who enjoys good music.
HHHHHHH
