SHADOW BORDER

The Aurora Project

Progressive Metal

3.49 | 27 ratings

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Wicket
Prog Reviewer

Progressive metal is a hard genre to crack. Too many bands end up with the same sound and no outstanding features that they just don't sound really remarkable.

The Aurora Project hail from the Netherlands with "Shadow Border", their second full length album, and while they're experienced musicians, this album still shows youth in their sound. I'm not the biggest fan of the guitar tones and the lyrics over all are fairly bland and uninteresting. "Human Gateway" is slow enough to have a bit of Opeth-ish feel during the slower passages, while "the Trial" screams early Fates Warning to me. Right away, I just get a bunch of influences from other bands, which isn't band, but there's no "Aurora" sound, not yet anyway.

"Photonic Reunion" is the first track to feature some diverse tempo changes and and a different sound palette, not to mention as the shortest track of the album, it doesn't overstay its welcome, but the chorus has a bit of a nod to Dream Theater and "Beyond This Life". In fact, the next tune "The Confession" has a brutal heavy chord progression similar to "A Nightmare to Remember" (funny considering both tracks were released the same year).

"Another Dream" has some interesting verses, "Within the Realms" has some nice guitar solos after a nice three minute atmospheric break, and the self-titled track finally shows off even more of the musicians instrumental prowess and a series of changes in texture and sound.

Overall, the album is full of solid tracks ("Photonic Reunion", "Within The Realms", "Shadow Border"), but the album overall is just enough to just above average. The influences from other contemporaries are there, but there's just not enough to make it a standout album.

Wicket | 3/5 | 2019-9-25

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