Imagine
going on a blind date and, unexpectedly, your date turns out to be a seductive
and intriguing type. Well that pretty much describes my reaction to “Auguring
the Dusk...” from a Portuguese band which I had never heard of before.
Let’s
start from the vocals – the tonality of Sofia Silva’s singing is strongly
reminiscent of Cadaveria and has equal doses of warmth, brutality and precision.
There’s
ever some oriental-style chanting in the title-track...one of many ‘little’
things that enrich the album. The rest of the band members, bar none, are
similarly talented. The guitars predominantly use a Black Metal style of riffing
but the album also contains a wide range of guitar techniques, not all normally
associated with this genre of Metal. In ‘Ravishing Theatre of Chaos’, for
instance, there’s a classical feel to the closing solo that I really enjoyed.
And Alexandre Ribeiro, Neoplasmah’s bassist, is such an incredible player – his
relentless pounding gives the music robustness while he also keeps bursting out
of nowhere with these amazing bass-lines.
Despite all
this, you don’t get the feeling that the technical aspect of the music is
overwrought (I don’t consider Neoplasmah to be a Portuguese Obscura or
Pestilence) because due attention in given to the compositional aspect of the
songs. Certainly, this is a positive indication of the band’s level of maturity.
“Auguring the
Dusk of a New Era” is a well-produced and creative piece of work that I
confidently recommend.
