Review by Sonny for Aura Noir - Black Thrash Attack (1996)

Aura Noir are one of those bands that everyone knows, but very few talk about. Formed by Aggressor and Apollyon, who were both active in the Norwegian black metal underground, they were later joined by Mayhem guitarist Rune Eriksen (aka Blasphemer), prior to the recording of this debut full-length, Black Thrash Attack. By 1996 thrash metal was a shambling corpse that hadn't even recognised it's own demise. It's champions were fallen - Metallica had decided the way forward was trying to add an increasingly lengthening string of zeroes to their bank accounts, Kreator were embracing mediocrity and even Slayer were flailing around to such an extent that recording an album of hardcore punk covers seemed like a good move to them. Into this turgid scene, Black Thrash Attack was thrust like an adrenaline shot to the heart of thrash metal's inert body, causing it to rear upwards with an almighty gasp as life entered it once more. Taking the sound of the burgeoning black metal scene and regressing it to it's earliest days as an offshoot of thrash, Aura Noir injected vitality and good old-fashioned excitement into the once proud beast, producing possibly the best thrash album, at that point in time, since Rust In Peace.

Black Thrash Attack takes the riffs of European legends like Kreator, Bathory and Celtic Frost and marries them to raw and rabid blasphemous black metal to produce a vicious and visceral version of blackened thrash that sounds like the missing link between first- and second-wave black metal, with Darkthrone's early rawness being a particular touchstone. The riffs are all thrash, but the vocals, aesthetic and production values are raw and savage black metal through and through.

Aggressor and Apollyon alternate songwriting duties, with Aggressor being responsible for writing the odd-numbered tracks and Apollyon the even. Somewhat symetrically, they each perform vocals, bass and drums to the other's tracks. This approach offers up the risk of an uneven sound to the album, but I think that if you didn't know about it, it wouldn't be that obvious. Between this and it's predecessor the duo had added future Mayhem guitarist Blasphemer to expand the lineup to a trio, which was an inspired move and certainly adds meat to the bones of the band's sound, his impressive riffing being one of the albums real strengths. Despite the crusty rawness of the production, the playing is terrific and is inordinately precise with the drumming in particular surprising me at how accomplished it sounds for multi-instrumentalists, with Aggressor especially impressing in that regard. Sure it's not Dave Lombardo or even Fenriz, but it is still energetic and exact, with some sublime blasting from time to time.

Let's face it, this isn't sophisticated music and probably won't impress the more cerebrally demanding metalhead, but for those of us who thrive on guts and aggression and who value adrenaline-fuelled headbanging over chin-stroking reflection then Aura Noir turned in a classic with their debut full-length. This is dirty, nasty and aggressive and pushes all the right buttons, breathing new life into the rotting corpse of late nineties' thrash metal.