Auraborn "Incandescent" Album Review
Two album reviews in three days?! Who would have seen that coming? We've been behind on the review game for a few months now, but there is so much good music being pumped out current we felt it is our duty to check out some of these albums and EPs. So let's go!
Walking into this almost completely blind, I had no idea what to expect listening to the new (and seemingly first) album by Wisconsin based Metal band Auraborn. This album "Incandescent" was brought to our attention by seeing posts about previously released songs or this album as a whole, which dropped friday and every review said how good this band, and this album was. Comparing them to some heavy hitters in the genre. So we decided to check it out for ourselves!
Almost *immediately* my mind was melted. The intricate guitar work, the drum fills scattered throughout, the bouncy rhythm they brought just making me vibe and bang my head. Just super strong start for this album! The comparisons to bands like Invent Animate were definitely warranted, with futuristic riffs and ambient background music which I have grown to love. "Synchronicity" was a very solid intro to this band for me.
Over the next few tracks, I was very surprised by their use of electronics in various ways. From the synth work, glitchy sound effects, and robot voices this album did have a vibe that feels like listening to After The Burial while floating in space, which is an incredible visual! So many bands try to incorporate this but it feels like it's just placed in there as some sort of filler. But when Auraborn uses them it creates an overall vibe and it's adding dimension.
Having your mind focus on like 6 things at once and done masterfully as to not be overwhelmed is a great thing because none of the instruments are walking over each other and they're all flowing with those futuristic sounds. With each additional listen you can really appreciate the artisty a lot more then you'd be able to with other bands. Also props on the guitar solo on "Epoch", you don't hear those much anymore!
At the halfway mark of this album is the track "Patterns" where we are met with just a minute and 20 seconds of just beautifully soft instrumentation, that comes into play in the later songs, before just getting hit with a wall of sound a few seconds later. This song had it all! Calming instrumental breaks, intense drumming, squealing guitars. There was a lot going on, but nothing felt out of place, and nothing felt like too much. Sometimes less is more but in this instance, everything worked out and I was very much impressed.
The title track stuck out to me, as it starts off acoustically before all the other instruments join in this track. It specifically felt like listening to a heavier Circa Survive, which is a good thing as they are one of my favorite bands. The atmospheric melodies and the beautiful vocals are heavily present in this with chuggs, riffs and screams sprinkled over top! This had to be my favorite track off the album. I guess if you're gonna name your album after one of the songs, it better be a good one, right?
As the album ended, it was very much like a roller coaster, where things were built up high and then it got heavy as hell! There were times where I thought a big drop was going to happen and I ended up bamboozled. This took nothing away from how good these last two songs were. The final song "Luminary" especially. We hit another angelic opening segment to the song and as it fades, BOOM! Circle pit galore. Sounds a Metal show going down at the Megaman laboratory. Like it could be a score for a video game level. You walk into a level and you're scoping the place out and it's all nice and calm. Then something intense happens, so you're fighting for your life, you think you are finished, but then OH SHIT! Boss Battle! I felt like I read into that way too much, but it helped me enjoy this over multiple listens and it makes sense to me.
This album was an atmospheric rollercoaster ride and a master class in instrumentation. I'd give this album a straight up "A". I loved this album and it is definitely one of the best Metal album I've heard this year! The only way it could have been better is if it had a little bit more variety. A few of the songs on this album sounded like the same song, but it was a really good fucking song, y'know? I still enjoyed listening to this a lot and I will definitely tell everybody to listen to this band and this album. What a great introduction to Auraborn!
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