SHADOW BORDER

3.5 stars. THE AURORA PROJECT are from The Netherlands and have been making music for about 10 years now, this is their second studio record. I must admit I was really surprised to see them listed under Prog-Metal after spending a few days with this record as I thought this was more like Heavy-Prog or Heavy-Neo. ARENA came to mind quite often. Mind you I haven't heard the debut which may be more in the Metal style. Anyway this is a good album that i'm sure will be rated fairly highly on this site. The vocals are good but not great and they have an accent, while the music contrasts the heavy and lighter passages constantly.

"Human Gateway" sounds so good to open as the sound builds until it kicks in heavily after a minute. Unfortunately it settles and vocals come in. Heavier again after 3 1/2 minutes and some blistering guitar to end it. "The Trial" opens with synths and heaviness. Vocals before a minute. It settles then kicks back in. "Photonic Reunion" opens with waves of synths as reserved vocals join in. It gets heavier a minute in but then lighter a minute later. Themes are repeated.

"The Confession" is heavy to open but settles when the vocals come in. Contrasts continue. Nice guitar after 3 1/2 minutes. "Another Dream" is mellow with synths as reserved vocals join in. It's fuller sounding before 2 minutes. These odd spoken words come and go. "Within The Reality" is heavy to open but settles quickly (I know i'm like a broken record) as reserved vocals come in. Spoken words before 4 minutes and later to end it. "Shadow Border" is the almost 16 1/2 minute closer. More of those contrasts throughout although it gets really heavy duty 11 minutes in.

I would have liked this a lot more if the lighter passages were removed with the vocals. Still a good album.