The Auras - New Generation

[Nick C]

Ah-ha! Here's one for the AOR Heads out there, Brazils the Auras (I'm sure someone mentioned them here a couple of years back), finally have their debut album out on Frontiers on the 22nd of March.

 

Check 'em out here.

 

The Auras on Myspace

[Geoff]

Yeah, sounds like great stuff mate. There is another thread here on the forum where I expressed my enjoyment of the samples thus resulting in a pre-order.

[Jez]

I am hoping this turns out to be a really strong album after some recent AOR letdowns. First signs are that it is going to be a good one, but I wait until I have heard the full thing. Very very Journey/Perry sounding stuff

[melodicrockoz]

It's hard to believe just how much time has gone from the first time these guys were mentioned on this site to the album coming out, great stuff nevertheless

[rockdoc]

Just recieved my copy yesterday and it is better than I expected , very much like Journey !

[Geoff]

Okay, the first spin verdict:

 

I do like it. It's very consistent and there are a lot of good tracks on here. Worth the price, no doubt, and a definite keeper.

 

Now, the issue I have? It's very, very one dimensional. If the word 'love' is not in the title of every song (like the last 4 in a row) it is at least mentioned in the chorus of every song. Not only is the subject matter identical on each track, but there is not much variation in the tempo/style of each track either. They're pretty much all mid-tempo melodic rock / AOR tunes from start to finish. I don't have too big an issue with that if it's done well, and it is here. I just think if you're going to do it I'd be keeping the tracklist down to 10 and no more. There are just 2 songs too many here, and I've have chopped 'That's the Way Love Goes' and 'Keep On Loving You' to keep it down to a snappier 10 track disc. Those 2 tracks are pretty weak and unnecessary.

 

As I said, though, the other 10 songs are all good with a few great ones in there. The vocals are excellent (Kevin Chalfant to a T) and the music is ballsy enough to keep it out of lightweight AOR territory. I can't see any real reason this won't rate pretty high this year, due to it's consistency. Compared to the likes of Treat, Crazy Lixx, Crashdiet, Reckless Love, though, it's clear to see this falls short in terms of variety of song on offer.

[Jez]

Okay, the first spin verdict:

 

I do like it. It's very consistent and there are a lot of good tracks on here. Worth the price, no doubt, and a definite keeper.

 

Now, the issue I have? It's very, very one dimensional. If the word 'love' is not in the title of every song (like the last 4 in a row) it is at least mentioned in the chorus of every song. Not only is the subject matter identical on each track, but there is not much variation in the tempo/style of each track either. They're pretty much all mid-tempo melodic rock / AOR tunes from start to finish. I don't have too big an issue with that if it's done well, and it is here.

 

I just found this very boring after about halfway through, purely because it isn't varied enough in style as you say. Only the excellent title track gathers any pace whatsoever. You can do good AOR in lots of ways and they definitley should have tried a few different angles on this disc to relieve the monotony. I love my AOR stuff, but this is way way to safe, like alot of other AOR releases in the past few years.

[Glen]

Okay, the first spin verdict:

 

I do like it. It's very consistent and there are a lot of good tracks on here. Worth the price, no doubt, and a definite keeper.

 

Now, the issue I have? It's very, very one dimensional. If the word 'love' is not in the title of every song (like the last 4 in a row) it is at least mentioned in the chorus of every song. Not only is the subject matter identical on each track, but there is not much variation in the tempo/style of each track either. They're pretty much all mid-tempo melodic rock / AOR tunes from start to finish. I don't have too big an issue with that if it's done well, and it is here.

 

I just found this very boring after about halfway through, purely because it isn't varied enough in style as you say. Only the excellent title track gathers any pace whatsoever. You can do good AOR in lots of ways and they definitley should have tried a few different angles on this disc to relieve the monotony. I love my AOR stuff, but this is way way to safe, like alot of other AOR releases in the past few years.

 

Yeah Serpentine suffers from the exact same problem.

[melodicrockoz]

THE FORMULAIC ALBUM OF 2010 PERHAPS?