heavymetaltribune : 17/20 | Aurora Borealis has established themselves as one of the pioneering and longest running bands with lyrical themes focussing on things such as cosmology, mythology and the likes throughout their 17 year history. Timeline: The Beginning and End of Everything is their fifth studio output, after 5 years. It would be come as a pleasant surprise to fans then, that the band has offered their album up on their website for download.
Our Legacy is an ominous introductory track, sounding like a transmission sent to space to any other life-form out in the universe, marking the end of the human race, through a metallic, robotic voice. Crucible of Creation marks the real onslaught by Aurora Borealis, with a drum roll that brings to mind black/death metal drummers such as Revenge's James Read energetic and chaotic style of drumming. Being a sucker of such drumming styles, the drumming on this album is one of the main things that captivate me as drummer Mark Green happily blasts his way through most of the time, with strong and constant blast beats. His drum works on the album also provides for a sense of urgency and anxiety on the music, such as on Formation. On tracks like Stygian Depths as well, his flamboyance is also displayed, adding an interesting touch to the music. His work on Timeline is certainly a good testimonial and evidence of his capabilities despite this being his debut appearance on an Aurora Borealis release.
Vocalist/guitarist Ron Vento's vocals are a high-pitched growl, yet does not obscure the intelligent words and lyrics that are spat out, like a rougher version of India's Devoid's Arun. Handling vocal duties also does not handicap him on the guitar sections, with complex riffs and technical guitar solos often laid down and executed flawlessly, such as on Formation, with the inclusion of pinch-harmonics laced riffs and seemingly random inclusion of tricky lead guitar lines. Songs such as A Creature Called Human (Among Other Things) and the emotional introductory guitar lines on Tearing Holes in the Fabric of Time also display his ability to fuse melody with technicality, a nice touch compared to the many technical bands out there that focus solely on speed and wankery. The black metal influences also become evident on the lines played on songs like The Only Space Race that Matters. Various guitar effects are also utilised effectively to produce different effects on the listener, such as that on Crucible of Creation, which almost threatens to send listeners into a vertigo.
The rumbling bass line provided at the background by bassist Jason also ensures the full sound of the music throughout the album. However, with such technical and complex displays of talents by Mark and Ron, the lack of any notable or memorable improvisation in the bass section gets slightly disappointing.
Of course, the highlight here are the lyrical contents of the album. As already mentioned by the band on their website before the release of the album, Timeline is a concept album that "starts from the beginning of all existence and continues through until the very end of universe and the eventual retraction and rebirth of it all." With the album starting with Our Legacy and ending with a track entitled The Rebirth, it is obvious where the lyrical directions are headed to, and spending time reading through the lyrics of Timeline would certainly provide for a thought-provoking experience, along with the music on the album..
How much more philosophical can one get? Timeline is yet another brilliant album, written to not only prove that metalheads are not idiots that scream brainless, blasphemous words, but to also display the amount of knowledge and geekology that runs in the metal veins. With such good music and the band even putting this album up on their website, allowing listeners to pay any amount for the music download, what more can one ask for?
2011-07-20 06:27:35
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