Red Shift opens up the Cd with some warbling synths before rapid drums and the instantly recognisable dual riffs of the band’s opener for their live set also begins the Cd. It definitely manages to set a heavy pace for the Ep, charging along with a few glistenings of light areas to break it up with delayed gentle leads from Andé, soft bass and galloping drums before going into dual vocals and power chords. The last sections of the song are taken up by a lengthy, drifting instrumental section lasting roughly a minute.
“Just Salient” glistens into the fold with chiming guitars and a wall of subtle vocal harmonies to open up the soft first passage. Picking up up tempo with a gallop to keep you on your toes, the track dies back down before going into a more melancholy and heavier mode pervaded with diving bass from Chris along with low end riffs that slowly alter through the rest of the tracks. This is the most experimental of the tracks on the Ep. Being based around extended instrumental sections that develop with a few injections of vocals that repeat with vocal harmonies through the twisting time signatures. Personally, this is by far my favourite track, it’s heavy, hooky and more on the progressive side.
“State Of Mind” begins a bit of a waltz-like mood, a three-four time signature from Jammers alongside some flowing guitars, bass and vocals. The track is mostly about a softer sound, there’s some heavy passages in there but there’s always a separate melody that reigns that weight back in for the majority of the time, only allowing itself to go full throttle in the very last moments after a lengthy section of muted punchy bass and guitars and a chiming lead alongside it. It’s a good example of what defines a track by Aurora’s Shadow, crossing between careful control to make one melody and going all out for the metal side of the sound. Going easy on the heavy passages makes this track the more radio-friendly of the tracks.
Warbling samples begin “Free Again”as a light melody and skipping drums lay out the base melody for the track. It’s not too long before the song goes into a heavy style either, the styles continually flitting between heavy and lighter tones with a comfortable balance, the light sections dominated by a soft drums and bass, keys and flitting guitars while the metal sections like the chorus and latter half of the song are driven with distortion, vocal harmonies and a more constant tempo. By quite a way, this seems to be the heaviest track in the album and closes it off quite well alongside the bass-drum dominated beat, delicate Muse-esque leads and vocals before the same synths that begin the Ep. take the track out.Admittedly, some parts don’t seem to have that big wall of raw sound as seen in their live performances when they dive into the metal sections, but it seems that Aurora’s Shadow have opted for a controlled sound on this Ep and have put a good deal of thought into how to make the Cd work as a whole.
This has allowed them to add a lot of touches and layers with vocals that may be a lot of hassle to carry out on stage, setting the Ep. as something else in it’s own right. All in all, it seems to be a selection of thoughtful and well written rock with production values that show off those qualities quite a lot which even on their own are a good enough reason to get a hold of a copy.
Craig \m/
