Band:	Aura Noir
Album:	Hades Rise
Style:	Black metal, Thrash metal
Release date:	August 25, 2008
A review by:	Jeff

01. Hades Rise
02. Gaping Grave Awaits
03. Unleash The Demon
04. Pestilent Streams
05. Schitzoid Paranoid
06. Death-Mask
07. Shadows Of Death
08. Iron Night/Torment Storm
09. South American Death
10. The Stalker

As you probably already know, Mr. Thrash and Mr. Black Metal are cousins. If you're still a bit doubtful about this obvious fact, I will give you a name which should teach you reality and this name is Aura Noir. Maybe that you still don't know this really good Norwegian band but in that case you have to know that they're considered nowadays as the masters of Thrash Black Metal. "Hades Rise" is their last release and one more time the fans of the genre shouldn't be disappointed!

With Aura Noir you always know what will happen. I mean that the band, from one album to another, never tries to change things, they always play a really cool mix of Thrash Metal clearly influenced by old school Black Metal. If it can sound a bit minimalist at first, I have to tell you that despite the simplicity of the songs there is always something special in the compositions of Aura Noir. I don't really know how to call it but let's say that the guys perfectly know how to add the little "thing" which does that their music is unique. Have a look at the scene right now, I doubt that you'll find a lot of bands (except Dark Throne with their last albums) which play the same music? So what about "Hades Rise" now? The new album is good, I won't say that we're in front of the perfect album but still, this new release remains solid and if you're a fan of the band you'll enjoy songs like "South American Death" or "Unleash The Demon" without any doubt. This is classic Aura Noir with good thrashy dirty riffs and really disturbing ambiances. It's even really hard to add anything else, this new album just follow all what the band did in the past and of course if this is not new, this is good at least and not disturbing for the fans.

Even if the production perfectly fits to the music (the recording is really "old school" and minimalist but good nonetheless) and if the band doesn't sound old, I have the feeling that the snake is maybe beating its tail. What I want to say is that the new Aura Noir is definitely not surprising and if we don't have bad surprises we don't have any good ones too. If you like the band you'll like "Hades Rises" but don't expect any real blast. The new album is good but that's all what I can say?

"Hades Rises" is a good solid album but I hope that Aura Noir will be able to surprise us a bit more in the future. I'm not telling that the band must change its way to play Metal, I really like their Black Thrash Metal but for me "Black Thrash Attack" is their best release and I hope that they will be able to produce again such kind of albums in the future. "Hades Rises" is a good album but be aware that Aura Noir doesn't give anything new here.