От героев былых времён...

Only in modern Russia, I think, would anyone think of remixing old Red Army marches from the Great Patriotic War with Children of Bodom. But far be it from me to say it’s a bad idea!

Russian self-described ‘sympho speed-power metal’ band Aura has undergone quite a drastic evolution since started off as a symphonic outfit with beauty-and-the-beast vocals à la Theatre of Tragedy and an operatic leading lady with Tarja Turunen-level aspirations, and the lyrical themes on their pilot EP Комета (Comet) and on their full-length debut Вдохновение (Inspiration) were just about what you might expect from any such band. Legends. Mythical creatures. Nature. Prophecies. Childhood tales. Stargazing. Star-crossed young lovers. Historical drama. Basically, what Nightwish sings about on every album they churn out. The difference was that they didn’t go all weepy and sappy with their orchestral strings section, they went speedy. They made those bow-wielding shoulder-benders work for their pay, dammit!

But, time, current events and lineup changes play tricks on us all, it seems. Having burned through two vocalists this past year alone, they seem to have settled on Lana ‘Sniper’ Berseneva, whose alto range and hard-rock delivery very clearly do not match the previous singer’s, and whose interests clearly do not match the band’s previously-wonted subject matter. Nor, indeed, does the reigning martial patriotic national mood. So what do you do when you are faced with such a dilemma? Either you burn through yet another talented female vocalist, or…

You go full metal Эшелон. Only, you know, better. And you end up with От Героев Былых Времён... Because extreme symphonic power metal and Alexandrov Ensemble-style choral arrangements? That’s brilliant, mates. Wonder why no one’s thought of it before?

What you have here, folks, is the three-song EP Russian thematic equivalent of Sabaton’s Primo Victoria, wrapped up in a thick layer of Kenny Loggins’ contribution to the Top Gun soundtrack and a good heavy dose of ностальгия. When you hit the play button and you get the gramophone hiss and a lonely violin, joined by a steady bass line and Alex Luty’s soulful, mournful Russian tenor singing what is clearly a martial ballad (‘Вечный огонь’), you really start to get an idea of what you’re in for on the rest of the album. Lana lends her pipes in unison to Alex’s for the emotional boost. Just in case you couldn’t tell by the album art, with the Soviet soldier triumphantly waving the Красное знамя from the rooftops of a bombed-out Russian city, shrouded in the rainy mists of time.

And then the tempo kicks up into their former speedy range with the literal roar of a Polikarpov I-16 propeller on ‘На таран!’, an electrifying melodic earworm which blends Iron Maiden’s galloping rhythms with Sabaton’s wonted blend of thick guitarwork and generous vocal-synth and keyboard effects. The haunting synthesised bells which chime just above and amidst the galloping bass-and-drums work serve to seal the deal for this song. Alex Luty is certainly bringing a Brodénish energy and conviction to his vocals, but his delivery is almost too squeaky-clean. He doesn’t have the needed gruffness yet to really pull off a song like this. Let’s just say he’s still an airman in this war, not exactly a colonel. Even so, if this is the direction Aura wants to go in the foreseeable future, I can’t see them going down in flames.

And then we have ‘Полюшко-поле’, the old Soviet marching-song, medleyed up with Children of Bodom’s ‘Downfall’, and the old Aura we know from Вдохновение, having simmered and smouldered beneath the restraints of the prior two songs’ tempo all this time, rips out from its fetters with a fiery shredding vengeance. Speed! Speed, comrades! Бегом – МАРШ! The bridge kicks in, major transposes, and then Lana really lets loose with her harsh vocals – the only English lyrics you will hear on the whole album. The song sears from beginning to end; though I’m sure Children of Bodom were more than okay with this, I still would have loved to have been in the room when the Soviets proposed to annex their territory… er, so to speak.

At any rate, even for such a short offering, this EP is well worth picking up.

18 / 20