AUGURY

Also catching the tech death metal army that rampaged throughout the naughts came the Montreal based AUGURY who successfully awed and bedazzled an increasingly finicky metal audience whose standards had been raised significantly since the 90s. 'Concealed' displayed a modern mature form of tech death infusion with elements of jazzy black and folk metal with heavy doses of acoustic spaced out ambience alongside the pacifying effect of Arianne Fleury's feminine diva charming beauty that tamed the rampaging brutality of the beast. Come 2009, a full five years of perfecting their craft and AUGURY had attained a technical prowess rarely matched in the big boyz club of such technical wizardry. 'Fragmentary Evidence' cemented the band as one of tech death's major players and despite the loss of Fleury managed to wield their jazzified battle axe for an unprecedented second coming.

As the years slithered by with one passage around the sun after another yielding an ever increasing supply of technically gifted musical maestros battening down the hatches and conjuring up their own sonic storms of dissonant din, AUGURY was nowhere to be found and with the exit of half the band, namely bassist Dominic Lapointe and drummer Antoine Baril, it would've been a no brainer that AUGURY were a two strike assault team and then down for the count. In the metal universe modernity, nine years seems like a lifetime and as new bands like Ulcerate, Portal, Obscura, Gigan and Gorod gaining tech death god status, every passing year AUGURY was becoming more of a distant memory rather than a glimmering hope of resurrection. Lo and behold and nearly a decade later, not only have the two departed members rejoined this caustic cast but the long anticipated third album has finally arisen from seemingly nowhere.

Despite the nine year gap, ILLUSIVE GOLDEN AGE surprisingly picks up exactly where 'Fragmentary Evidence' left off which is both its boon and bane depending on what one's expectations were set on. The boon is that AUGURY crank out eight incredibly complex distorted and dissonant demons of death metal like they never left the scene. Each member has retained his respective maestrohood prowess with Patrick Loisel's vocal shapeshifting skills losing none of the intensity heard all the way back in 2004. Likewise Marcotte, Lapointe and Baril haven't lost their technical chops in the slightest with the production and mixing job completely up to snuff with the highest of AUGURY standards that set the bar so high from the getgo. The bane is that after nearly a decade these guys have lost a lot of their compositional magic making mojo as the majority of the tracks lack those distinguishing features so creatively laid out on the first two albums. Add to the fact that this album seems a little stuck in the 2010 timeline and hasn't taken into account the modern realities that surround the bubble that it seems to have been created in. Could it be this was indeed created back then and only recently finished?

All that being said, ILLUSIVE GOLDEN AGE still cranks out some mighty fine tech death although at this point in the game feels a little stagnant. Woefully missing are those beautiful non-metal passages that ceded into the blistering brutal chops that allowed the band to craft an inkling of a melody that the musicians could tightrope walk upon throughout a track's running time. After nine long years it would seem like these guys could've upped their game and continued their role as the compass of creativity in a sub-genera that can easily grow stale when the musicians get too much into their heads and sever the sonic thread that binds them to their audience. While it's hard to give such a decently performed album a bad rating, at the same time the lack of the aforementioned elements only make me want to revisit the first two albums that have that extra magic layer of attraction as intangible as it may seem. While not a complete waste of time ILLUSIVE GOLDEN AGE seems to have missed its target and remains, well' ILLUSIVE.

3.5 but rounded down

Despite the loss of Fleury, there are many guest vocalists on FRAGMENTARY EVIDENCE that attempt to fill the void although not quite as successfully i may add. As a matter of fact five out of the nine tracks have guest vocalists which include Sven de Caluwé (Aborted, System Divide), Youri Raymond (Cryptosy, Unhuman), Sébastien Croteau (Necrotic Mutation), Filip Ivanovic (Agony), Eric Fiset (Obscene Crisis, Nervous Impulse) and fellow Montreal residents SyriaK and Leilindel from Unexpect. Since the feminine charm of Leilindel is limited to a mere pair of tracks, FRAGMENTARY EVIDENCE is a much more testosterone driven maelstrom of frenetic energy without the many pacifying moments that allowed some cooling down periods.

Overall album #2 is a lot more technical in nature with the progressive wankery turned up several notches with lots of jazz-fusion in the works. Many of the opening intros and sudden clean guitar passages display a very fusionistic approach in chord progressions, time signature chops and advanced atonal harmonics. The closing and longest track on the album "Oversee The Rebirth" is perhaps one of the finest moments in technical death metal-jazz fusion i've ever heard with some of the swankiest jazzified guitar techniques recorded which extends the variations on the theme for a full satisfying eleven minute stretch. The track also exhibits the cleaner almost James Hatfield type of vocals set in folk metal style that appeared abundantly on "Concealed" but utilized sparingly on FRAGMENTARY EVIDENCE.

While more adventurous in tech death metal assaults that pummel and bombast the senses with less downtime for deep breaths, FRAGMENTARY EVIDENCE is a tech death metal beast finding the musicians in fine form and more technically developed in the five year period since "Concealed." The guitar chops remind me a lot of Necrophagist with brutal punishing riffs that implement the occasional neoclassical virtuosic sweep. Also mentionable is the extraordinary bass work of Dominic Lapointe whose finger dancing skills display uncanny mastery of one of the most physically demanding instruments in a metal band, the bass guitar. Likewise for Étienne Gallo's inhumanly percussive juggling drum abuse. Damn, how many stick were sacrificed to record this?

FRAGMENTARY EVIDENCE is a superb followup to "Concealed" in every way but one. Without Fleury's feminine spell casting charm, the pacifying folk inspired acoustic elements present on "Concealed" are sadly missed on this one and in the process has lost the atmospheric robustness. This album is just simply a much more aggressive beast and while i do not dislike that for a second, it seems that while the debut was perfectly balanced, this one seems like a slightly lower calibre in its wake. However, in its stead there are plenty of technical death metal chops to salivate over with the superb production and mixing allowing for a near perfect modern tech death listening experience. It also seems the more diverse tracks are tacked onto the end and they could've been redistributed in a better way but make no doubts about it. FRAGMENTARY EVIDENCE displays exactly what a modern 21st century extreme metal album should sound like and while not perfect delivers many of the goods.

After the many auditions and plucking from other unknown bands from the local scene, the final lineup ended up with Dominic Lapointe (bassist from Atheretic), Patrick Loisel (vocalist, guitarist), Étienne Gallo (drums) and soprano vocalist Arianne Fleury. The band quickly coalesced a series of new tracks with each members adding their signature elements to the mix. As the death metal band became more adventurous, many new elements of folk, progressive rock and classical were added and after some time in the production and mixing processes emerged the band's debut album CONCEALED in 2004. The album caught the tech death world by storm and put AUGURY on the map from the start and although a mere bunch of newbies on the scene, came across as well-vetted masters of the scene as if they were some sort of supergroup.

While it's true that many a death metal band that throws in a few "alternative" passages can qualify as progressive these days, AUGURY is the real deal. "Beatus" starts off with a symphonic acoustic guitar passage with feminine diva soprano vocals slowly entering the scene but after the proper melodic developments are introduced, the band breaks into some serious death metal which is by far the dominant style on CONCEALED with million mile per hour crushing guitar riffs, stylized technical drum frenzies and thoughtful interplay between the bass, guitar and percussion. The band not only focus on tight top notch compositional styles that differentiate each track from the next but find interesting methods of adding softer and acoustic intros and interludes to create an interesting dynamic contrast.

While the album is primarily in-yer-face tech death metal with galloping angular guitar riffs on speed, there are many passages with Enslaved type viking metal that emphasize traditional folk melodies that implement clean vocal techniques and while Fleury's feminine charm is usually reserved for moments of contrast, on the Celtic folk inspired "The LaIr Of Purity" she takes the reins with a prominent beauty and the beast role as well as the clean male folk vocals. However on "As Sea Devours Land" she gets to unleash her lead vocal charms as she escapes the diva role and is allowed to belt out her full metal charm. The album is well paced with nice little folky acoustic parts that segregate the brutal death metal from more subdued moments. Melody is the emphatic focus which is allowed to expand into neighboring dimensions.

CONCEALED is a really brilliant exercise in progressive leaning technical death metal. It exceeds in the tech department with the excessive guitar wankery behind the scenes including a few neoclassical solo moments as well as dishing out pleasant progressive developments. Likewise the band implement firm control over the ratio of brutality to the sensual counter forces which give AUGURY a much broader spectral resonance than the average death metal band. All in all, the album flows almost flawlessly with only the all acoustic "From Eden Estranged" wearing out its welcome with a rather unnecessary and repetitive strum-athon through the acoustic nothingness. AUGURY is a band where the mastery of the musical elements on board is exquisite and the production is perfectly crystal clear yet abrasively pleasant when the rougher aspects dominate. CONCEALED is a must hear for lovers of aggressive and complex death metal taken to extremes.

4.5 rounded UP!

Augury come from Montreal, a hot place for extreme metal, and it's no surprise to find similarities in their music with that of recent Gorguts. It's easiest described as complex, technical, brutal, progressive death metal with melodic moments. There are spots where I find myself reminded of uneXpect, also from Montreal, but Augury are not nearly as eclectic in their music mélange. Perhaps another good band to compare Augury to would be Fallujah out of the U.S.

Augury's music seems to be mainly based upon two simultaneous approaches: the total brutal assault of rhythm guitar and double bass drumming and the more technical and often melodic complement of lead guitar melodies and solos along with some adventurous bass work and percussion. In fact, it was how the bass guitar often stamped its presence in the music that convinced me to try the album in the first place.

The brutal part of the music would run dry pretty soon were it not for the more progressive/technical side. Sometimes I feel it's like driving down a gravel road at high speed with a steady pummeling, rumble. At another moment, I likened it to listening to music played either live or from a stereo system that is powered by a gasoline generator. You can hear the melody in the music but the steady chugging cough of the generator rumbles on at high speed. The duality of the more technical part alongside the brutal part sometimes makes the music difficult to figure out and may seem like two songs playing at once. The opening of 'Skyless' really could seem like two songs playing together, and when an extreme music fan friend of mine heard this song he said it was 'stress music' because he feels stress listening to it.

But Augury offer something more interesting throughout the album. There are short surprise bits that show their progressive side such as the opening of 'Jupiter Ignite' or the Animals as Leaders-type of playing at the beginning of 'Oversee the Rebirth'. If you are familiar with uneXpect, then you might notice the similarity to that band when the female guest vocals come in on 'Brimstone Landscapes' or perhaps the beginning of 'Simian Cattle' with the pulled bass notes. It is for these occasional pit stops that I keep coming back to the album to try to better understand it.

As for the vocals, you'll find three basic types: the throat-shredding screamer, the deep, incomprehensible death roar, and a hardcore punk style of vocals that sound like a pirate trying to sing a melody. Especially in 'Sovereigns Unknown' there is a vocal melody that is sung very much like a pirate's ode to the high seas. For my taste, these vocals are the weakest part of the album. At times they're okay but mostly I get turned off by them. There is also the one guest female vocal part I mentioned above and as well a few whispered lines.

I'd say the most difficult thing about this album is picking out any favourites. No songs give me that excited rush or prickle under the skin. This is not music for feeling good or busting out of your stress bubble. This is complex and at times confusing. It's almost like that experimental jazz that sounds like random toots, squeaks and honks except that this is more like seemingly unrelated machinegun blasts, exploding buildings, and pirate chanties. Once again though, I do enjoy the challenge of listening to this album and as I have no favourite tracks it's easy enough to play the whole album through and just go along with the atmosphere. Not an album for just any prog collection but one that includes lots of tech/extreme stuff should take this album in.

If there is any place one could go to in Canada for good metal, it would be Quebec. Sure, there are good bands to be found in every province of this vast nation, but Quebec seems to have the greatest tendency to churn out some of North America's greatest metal outfits, with a particular focus on death metal. Augury is a band that is coming out of a well-established scene for all things brutal and heavy, and their second album 'Fragmentary Evidence' takes heir epic take on technical death metal and brings it to a much wider audience. featuring cameos from a number of Quebec's most noteworthy metallers, 'Fragmentary Evidence' may not have the pleasing shock of 'Concealed', but their penchant for quality leaves on with this one, and with this, they plant themselves as one of North America's most promising young death metal acts.

Like 'Concealed', there is quite a bit of variety on 'Fragmentary Evidence', quite a bit more than what one may usually expect from a death metal record. The variety of riffs can leap from brutally technical death riffs, to more melodic licks, jazzy bits and a few proggy tapping sections. Not a most original innovation in progressive death metal to be sure, but Augury makes these aspects work with greater dynamic and excitement than most. On a personal note, I find myself typically amazed by the musical skills and abilities of tech death musicians, but find the music itself to be lacking. Augury is an exception to this rule, always throwing new things at the listener, right to the final track. The heavy sections here don't have the distinctiveness to keep from sounding the same, but they are far from monotonous, as the band is constantly changing up their pace, energy, and sound.

Included here are the vocal presences of singers from such bands as Cryptopsy and uneXpect, both bands that have also impressed me greatly in the past. Sadly- and especially in the case of the uneXpect vocal contribution- the appearance feels more like a gimmicky cameo than anything, jumping in for a few seconds, hinting at the sound of their origin bands, then disappearing for the rest of it. The main vocals here are a little more varied than your typical death metal dose, although they are not nearly as varied as they were on 'Concealed'. The vocals tend to lead the band into whatever specific style they are doing; there's even a song here where it sounds like vocalist Patrick Loisel is taking Augury on a pirate metal adventure through high seas. That being said, the real highlight here is what Augury can do with the lighter, mellow moments of the album; specifically the variety of different things they do with it.

'Concealed' will be a tough album for Augury to beat, but 'Fragmentary Evidence' certainly does not disappoint; we have here a very well-produced and exceptionally performed progressive death metal album, with plenty of little tricks up its sleeve to distinguish it from the legions of other bands.

The music on the album continues the progressive and technical death metal style of the debut. Seen from a technical point of view this album is very impressive. Blasting drums, fast shredding, jazzy parts, and skillful soloing are just some of the assets of this album. The vocals vary between deep growls (predominantly) and occasional clean vocals. The clean singing reminds me a lot of the clean singning on Amorphis releases. I´ve seen other reviews mention viking metal vocals, so maybe that´s a valid comparison too. There are a bunch of guest vocalists on the album, who also contribute to make that side of the music diverse. Some of the guest vocalists are Sven de Caluwé from Aborted and Syriak and Leilindel from Unexpect. The tracks are high quality technical/progressive death metal compositions. Augury understand how to vary their music to keep it entertaining and intriguing throughout the album´s playing time.

The sound production is polished, clean and powerful. Basically perfect for this kind of music although to my ears a bit more grit wouldn´t have hurt.

I´ve given "Fragmentary Evidence" a lot of spins and while there is no doubt that this is a 3.5 - 4 star (75%) release in my book, I can´t help think that I enjoyed the debut a bit more. Maybe in the end "Fragmentary Evidence""Cosmogenesis (2009)" by Obscura, which I also think is a great high quality release, but which also suffers slightly from a lack of rawness and grit. Despite my reservations there should of course be no doubt in the minds of fans of the genre that this is an album you should have in your collection.

The music on "Concealed" is at it´s core brutal death metal, but there are so many other things going on, that a description like that doesn´t do the music justice at all. There´s a high level of technical playing on the album but I wouldn´t say that technical playing is the primary focus on "Concealed". There is a lot of focus on atmosphere too. The tempos on the tracks vary from mid-paced to blasting. No matter which pace the band are playing in, this is the kind of album where you have to be the type who are able to appreciate constant double bass drums because that element is used a lot on "Concealed".

In addition to the death metal elements on the album there are also elements from progressive metal on "Concealed". While the death metal parts are certainly brutal there are lots of melodic playing on the tracks too. Beautiful guitar solos and an emphasis on variation within the tracks keep "Concealed" exciting all the way through the 49:10 minutes long playing time. All tracks on the album are high quality compositions and after a couple of listens they are easy to tell apart, even though they are relatively complex and rather challenging. Towards the end of the album tracks like the ethnic Scandinavian flavoured and Viking metal influenced "The Lair of Purity" and the instrumental acoustic/electric "From Eden Enstranged..." mean that the variation level increases even more. It´s up for discussion how well the former fits with the atmosphere of the rest of the album and how good it is for the overall flow, but that´s probably a matter of aquired taste. To be honest I´m a bit biased.

The vocals on the album are predominantly deep growls, but there are also both clean male vocals and female ditto on some tracks. The latter mentioned vocal style is most prominant in the opening track "Beatus" where the female vocals are in operatic style, but also tracks like "In Russian Dolls Universes", "The Lair of Purity" and "...As Sea Devours Land" feature female vocals. The clean male vocals remind me of the singing style of Pasi Koskinen (Amorphis).

The sound production is clean, powerful and professional. Some might find it a bit too polished, but again that´s an aquired taste. "Concealed" is upon conclusion an excellent technical/progressive death metal album by Augury. Fans of the genre are adviced to check it out. A band that releases a high quality debut like "Concealed" deserves to be heard by as many people as possible. A 4.5 star (90%) rating is well deserved.

Anyone interested in quality extreme metal or progressive metal should buy this album. No question.