I heard this band for the first time at the “Rock the
Lake” festival in 2007. Dozing in the sun my first thought was that METALLICA were taking a holiday in southern Austria. It was an absolutely eerie experience! APRIACA are melodic Thrash
Metal with a touch of Punk Rock and some progressive influences, a nice recipe for entertainment. The boys are great: a good vocalist, excellent guitars and just one weak point, namely the drum section. If that can get a bit stronger, a bit more powerful, they will get far!
Their first album, “The Philosopher’s
Legacy”, already sets a rather high standard for future releases concerning artwork (I really love those photos from the studio) and recording . The sound is perfect, very clear and forceful, even if you turn up your stereo as much as possible.
The CD starts with a fine instrumental intro that gives a first taste of the versatile and expert performance of the two guitarists. After about a minute it turns into the mid-tempo track “
Land of
Corpse” – an ideal opener, I think. Although “
Capricorn”, another mid-tempo piece, might be a greater favorite at concerts because of the exquisite twin-guitar leads and the great “Yeeeah!” part – try to sing along with it, it’s irresistible!
“Gone Mad” has a lot more speed and a powerful middle part. “Violent Youth” shows the greatest Punk Rock influences. Unfortunately, the video for this song was done much later and can only be seen on the band’s website. It would have made a nice bonus. “Hero” with its
Trash Metal middle part is a nice final track although not outstanding.
“
Rain”, the only ballad on this long player, has a strong likeness with METALLICA’s “
Sanatorium” but shows some fine piano accompaniments that make an ideal backing for Jak’s emotional yet strong singing. The title track displays all the strong points of the band: clean guitars, classic solos, powerful mid-tempo pieces and even some double-bass parts. It’s almost completely instrumental with only a short intermezzo that is more spoken than sung but nonetheless adds considerably to the ominous atmosphere of the song.
All in all APRIACA won’t win a prize as musical innovators of the year because of the overwhelming influence of METALLICA, but to those who don’t like the new sound of the US-band and who want to support a high-quality Austrian band, I just say: “Take a closer look. They are worth it!”
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