Aura Noir - The Merciless

AURA NOIR - The Merciless (TYRANT SYNDICATE - CD 2004)

Short, but so fuckin sweet - this is what I could say about “The Merciless”. It’s one of my favourite, if not THE favourite Aura Noir album. Sur, it has strong competitors from “Black Thrash Attack” and “Deep Tracts of Hell”, but I have to say that for me “The Merciless” is near perfection. It's complete old school black / thrash metal album, where all songs absolutely possessed me. There’s not a single minute wasted here, every song is a killer and these near 30 minutes of music are absolutely brilliant. 

“The Merciless” continues what Aura Noir started on their previous albums, so if you know them, then you should remember their vicious and aggressive sounding mixture of 80’s metal with black metal. These guys take influences from classic bands such as Venom, Possessed, Sodom, Kreator, Celtic Frost (And many, many more) with full grasps and have fun with it, playing some of the best riffs ever. But Aura Noir managed to create their own sound and style, you will recognize them immediately. It's all due to that black metal aura that floats over their songs and which gives a colder, grimmer feel to their music. But it’s also due to the perfect combination of two talented vocalists: Apollyon and Aggressor, who share vocal duties equally on every Aura Noir album. And both sound characteristic and different. You could choose, whether you prefer more aggressive and black metal shrieks of Apollyon, who give more evil and necro sound to the music. Or if you prefer that nasty, 80’s style of Aggressor vocals, sometimes close to Cronos, other time to Tom Warrior... I love them both, really, but maybe Apollyon sounds a bit better for me. All songs with him have that obscure atmosphere, which is so bloody good to my ears. 

Anyway, every song here is a winner and the whole album feels like a bunch of potential hits with absolutely fantastic riffs, great arrangements and memorable chorus parts. There's no weak part on “The Merciless”, really. The whole music breaks necks and rip the guts out and listening to it is a pure pleasure, in my opinion. Songs such as “Upon the Dark Throne”, “Condor”, “Black Metal Jaw” or “Merciless” are most impressive. Production wise “The Merciless” is also spot on, it sounds harsh and organic, yet powerful and ass kicking. So, just as I wrote earlier... a damn close to perfection, if not perfect, fuckin record! I love it. 

Standout track: “Upon the Dark Throne”, “Condor”, “Black Metal Jaw”, “Merciless” 

Verdict: 95/100