Label : Street Symphonies/Logic(Il)Logic
Review by Tony Cannella & Matteo Bussotti
The inception of Italy’s Absynth Aura goes back to 2007, and with “Unbreakable” has finally issued their debut album. Their style is guitar driven, modern metal with a serious groove and melody running through the songs. “Believe Me” is a pounding opener that shows off the groove side of Absynth Aura. “Desert Flower” and the excellent “That’s Why You Die” follow and continue in a similar direction. “That’s Why You Die” is ironically followed by “Smile”, a beautifully, accessible song that comes close to the ballad end of the spectrum, but not quite. I liked the singer Claudia Saponi a lot. Her style is just straight-forward hard rock, at times she can deliver a raspy style and at other moments her voice is more sensitive and passionate like on “Smile” which quickly became my favorite song. Guitarist Michele Vioni also deserves a special mention for his work on “Unbreakable”, especially with his solos. “Understand My Fight” starts off with a slow, deliberate, sludgy heavy guitar riff before the song shifts into overdrive and speeds up, and includes another smoking guitar solo, Michele Vioni could wind up being a legitimate guitar hero, and not to be out done Giorgio Terenziani adds a bass solo near the end of the song, which is also very cool. “Looking for the One” heads into full on ballad territory. Claudia’s passionate vocals shine through as she is accompanied by a piano. So, is there anything else good on “Unbreakable”? There sure is, in particular “Will is Power” and “Unbreakable” also became favorites of mine. “Life” is pretty cool too and features Claudia performing a duet with a male vocalist. The songs on “Unbreakable” are all infused with some great melodic moments and memorable songs.A funny thing happened when I was reviewing “Unbreakable”, I originally gave it a grade of 70 out of 100, but by the third listen I came to the conclusion that it definitely deserved a higher grade. “Unbreakable” really grew on me big time. A lot of times first impressions can be deceiving and “Unbreakable” by Absynth Aura is a perfect example of this. This is a very good debut from another great Italian band.
Rating – 85/100
The first time you’ll listen to this album you’ll probably think about Nightwish, I’ll tell you. “Female singer? Melodic hard rock/metal? I’ve had enough of this!” Luckily, you will be proven wrong. Sure, Absynth Aura‘s sound is nothing new, but it has personality, it’s a great mixture of very powerful and perfectly crafted musics, along with a really enjoyable voice, very melodic and also “cheerful” in some points. The result is an album able to entertain you every time you’ll listen to it. Surely we can say Claudia has a beautiful voice, and she makes sure to show us her vocal abilities, going from an heavy sound (“Believe Me”) to a softer one (“Looking for the One”), finally reaching its perfection between those sounds in the title track, “Unbreakable”. With a unique sound, coming from influences which goes from Funky to Prog Rock, an unexpected Cranberries‘ “Zombie” cover and beautiful vocals Absynth Aura grant themselves a place in your hearth…or your ears, at least. With their live experience, which brought AA to play in various clubs and on Rock Tv, this album can only strenghten Absynth Aura‘s impact on the public, and their fame. We will expect to hear more from them soon, and to hear their musical evolution, maybe with another album which will highlight their best.
Rating – 78/100
Tracklist
- Believe Me
- Desert Flower
- That’s Why You Die
- Smile
- Understand My Fight
- Looking for the One
- Life
- The Fire in My Eyes
- Will Is Power
- Unbreakable
- Zombie
Line Up
- Claudia Saponi – Vocals& Keyboards
- Michele “Dr.Viossy” Vioni – Guitar
- Giorgio “JT” Terenziani – Bass
- Marco Renzi – Drums
Links
MySpace * ReverbNation * Facebook * Twitter * Site