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The trio from Phoenix, Arizona plays melodic, instrumental progressive metal. Mood music created through improvisation.
This is basically music in the outskirts of the core area of my taste-buds, so lower any irrational expectations of a meticulous in depth analysis. It’s pleasant background music the trio has created. With clean and clear sound and descent dynamics, mellow guitar tones flutter off in a leisurely manner. Acoustic guitar picking smells of woods while the sun’s rays are fragmented between the treetops and a dimmed by its leaves. Synthesizer creates ripples in musical waters while jazz-influenced drumming floats lazily on the waves. With expert instrumentation from three competent gentlemen, this sounds very good. The downside is that this appears, as already mentioned, as background music. Even if I ain’t got the biggest interest for progressive music, I have no trouble enjoying some Pink Floyd or Rush. With these one finds meticulously constructed songs with direction and depth. A good song is often presented as a story, it needs a starting point, a plot, a little action and drama along the way before the ending collects these threads and leaves the reader satisfied. In DemiAura‘s case I feel the threads diverge, tangled and generally lack a strategic direction. It’s quite possible that I just do not “understand” this form of music. It may well be that the goal simply is to create pleasurable and dramatic moods that could have served as a film score. I, however, prefer something that poses a greater entity, a big picture, capable of standing on its own feet. Soundtracks without movies is like movies without background music, rather tame. That the creators of such music is able to distinguish their compositions apart impresses me a bit. For me, this emerges as fairly random. At the same time, after quite a few hours in the company of DemiAura, I thrive surprisingly well with their music in the background. It’s like lying unwinding in a hammock between the trees on a nice summer day while Cumulus clouds floats calmly over the blue canvas. Gently and slowly, beautifully and leisurely, but not specifically purposeful beyond just that. That the band is instrumental might be nothing but a temporary solution. The trio is on the lookouts for vocalist, bassist, second guitarist and someone to handle violin/cello. Thus, the band, started under the moniker Organism in the late nineties, might quickly develop in some way or the other. The band’s logo is an ambigram, which is a graphical representation of a word that is the same upside down. See for yourself! (hover your mouse over the pictures). Stylish! Have a look at the EntheoGenesis video, which can also be heard right here, and watch the band play through Escaping the Event Horizon and Metempsychosis. http://www.gorger.org/english/2015/2015-11eng.htm#Gorger16 DemiAura is an all-instrumental prog metal band from Phoenix. Instrumental bands seem to fall into 2 categories for me: bands that should never get a vocalist and bands that could stand to have one. DemiAura fall into the latter category.
First off, the band are amazing players. The reason I think they could use a vocalist has nothing to do with their abilities. This band can fucking play. However, there are parts of the songs that often have space where it seems like a vocal should be. The lead track “EntheoGenesis” is a perfect example. It’s a very heavy, riff but repetitive track. There’s clearly a verse, chorus, verse pattern here. The solo section is the highlight of the song, for sure but there’s something missing otherwise. The second track “Pleiadian” has a similar vibe but not as obvious. The sections on this song are a bit more riffy but still, something is missing. “Escaping the Event Horizon” is another song with great riffs which benefits from more soloing which fills those gaps that the first 2 tracks have. Elsewhere, the one song that bugs me is “Metempsychosis” which probably could have been titled “A Parade of Arpeggios.” I don’t mind it but sometimes the band does fall into an overly repetitive pattern and this song really shows it more than the others. The closing track “Troll” is my favorite track. The band really harness their power and energy on this track. After listening to this album a few times, it didn’t really hit me. The production is impeccable so that’s not the issue. Instead, I found my mind wandering when it should have been locked into the music. DemiAura are far too good of a band to allow that so clearly I need something more than this album has. There needs to either be more “what the hell was that” moments or maybe a vocalist is what’s needed. The potential here is limitless. Rating: 7/10 Tracklist: 1. EntheoGenesis 2. Pleiadian 3. Escape from the Event Horizon 4. The Watchers 5. Astral World 6. Intelligent Design 7. Metempsychosis 8. The Dreaming 9. Wind of Deliverance 10. Troll DemiAura – “DemiAura” |
