Well, now. What happens at 1:38 of “Mirage,” when Aura Noir break into this cruise-control metal riff that makes downy facial hair grow above your upper lip no matter how old or what sex you are, is that the very same feeling that inspired me and and five children to form an impromptu air-guitar band and jam like we meant it grabs hold of Aura Noir’s amazing guitarist and kicks into overdrive. I am almost willing to say, because I am drawn to hyperbole like a fruit fly to a split peach, that you do not like rock and roll if you can’t feel the low-budget metal power of “Mirage”’s secondary riff. Well -- practically every song on Released Damnation is at least that good. Half of them are even better. Some of the riffs on it are as immediately facecracking as anything Metallica ever wrote. But while the guys in Metallica are generally so pleased with the spoils of their riff-mining that they showcase their more impressive findings in post-production, setting up the mixing board equivalent of a neon arrow pointing toward the riff they want you to hear, Aura Noir throw everything right there at the center of the mix and leave you to figure it out for yourself. This is about as close to the original spirit of punk rock as you can get. “Wretched Face of Evil,” especially, is an instant classic; the singer spits out the title like he was trying to annoy his parish priest, which he probably is. The hits come one after another, sounding for all the world like they were never intended to be heard by anybody and sounding all the more crucial precisely because they seem to want only to please themselves. Naturally, I cannot play Aura Noir for the kids I work with, because Aura Noir are quite openly Satanic; it would be hard to explain to even the most lax parents why some guy had taught their children to sing “Swarm of Vultures.” But I can tell you that if you’re looking for a band that’s practically guaranteed to make you play air-guitar, Aura Noir are your boys, and if you believe as we do here at Last Plane to Jakarta that it’s not great rock and roll unless it makes you worry that you might be going to Hell, then Increased Damnation has got exactly what you need. |