Napalm/Sound Pollution
Swedish band NOX AUREA has been at it for five years, and is a six man band. They consist of guitarists/keyboardists Peter Laustsen (RIMFROST) and Grim Vindkall (DOMGÅRD), bassist/keyboardist Robert Persson, lead vocalist Patrick Kullberg, v female vox Alice Parsell and drummer Joakim Andersson. They must be doing something right because this is their second album (debut= “Via Gnosis”). On this album they don´t follow the vampire trail but play Gnostic doom with a lot of vocalists and keyboard players.
A song lasting 6.26 gives me time to jot down my reflections and points of view. In spite of the chosen theme they don’t stick out from the crowd. There is tons of gloomy chords here. In league with the latest trend they mix the roughest growl with Alice´s light voice and the doom part feels diminished. They do their best but every genre of goth something feels totally overcrowded. They offer some gently and moody pieces and fine arrangements but I miss something that defines them and makes them special. They raise my pulse with “My Voyage Through Galactic Aeons” but they almost switch genres in doing so. The atmosphere remains throughout and I like that track. The most handsome atmosphere can be found in “To the Grave I Belong”, but apart from those two this is mostly trendy, too tidy and to close to ”everybody else” for comfort.
Track List
Ascending in Triumph
The Loss and Endeavour of Divinity
The Shadowless Plains
Mother Aletheia Chapter II
The Delight of Autumn Passion
My Voyage Through Galactic Aeons
To the Grave I Belong
Emendare
www.napalmrecords.com www.myspace.com/noxaurea
