Despite the vague and throwaway “metal” descriptive usually attached to it, what Empire Auriga present on their mysterious debut album is firmly set within the purposes and methods of ambient music. In order to materialize their vision of sidereal doom, Empire Auriga employ powerful martial percurssion, synthesizers and layers of guitars that for the most part wouldn’t be appropriately described as riffs, their clear function being that of providing the textural heaviness necessary for the oppressive and ominous environment the band aims to create.
The resulting mood is akin to that of the lost cosmonaut wandering through uncharted space on his small spacecraft, on the brink of madness from solitude and the sounds (imagined or real) that subtly make their way to his mind as an echo of the indifferent infinity. Such sounds could as aptly be described as logs or transmissions from an ancient interstellar civilization, barely audible through the translation of our technology. The band’s efforts are resolutely aimed at the otherwordly and at times explicitly sinister, as well as maintaining an hypnotic quality that is naturally demanded by this type of music.
Development beyond this hypnotic repetition is accorded to some of the songs when a new synth line occasionally emerges, contributing with a simple melody that gives a faint light to the murky landscape, like a lone pulsing star amidst a pitch black cosmos. On the album’s second half, some of the tracks ditch the percurssion altogether in order to rely solely on the atmospheric power of droning guitar feedback, distorted vocals and “sci-fi” synths. These spacious soundscapes are at times not too far removed from the territory covered by acts with similar preocupations such as Neptune Towers. “The Lurker” envelops the listener in a thick wash of droning guitar noise and then attempts to lull him with almost whispered vocalizations and a synth line reminiscent of those used on Burzum’s Filosofem. The closing track “Dust & Ether” finally divests itself of most of the tools in use so far (including guitars and drums) to completely surrender to tranquil but haunting soundscaping that appropriately concludes the album with the most stripped down form of dark oneiricism.
Whether the music proves too sparse for the listener will fundamentaly depend on his affinity with and tolerance for this genre. Evidently a treat for those comfortable with dark ambient and related avenues, most won’t deny the band’s effective summoning of inspired visions and compelling environments. Given the general scarcity of originality that has been plaguing metal music for a while, Empire Auriga deserve wider recognition as one of those inventive acts that make use of some of the techniques typically associated with it, but contextualize them in a wider pallete in their quest of expressing their ideas in the most faithful way possible.
