Ascending in Triumph

My favorite albums of any genre usually have to grow on me over repeat listens. This has not been the case with Nox Aurea's second album, Ascending in Triumph. Three tracks in on my first listen, I knew I was going to love it. They haven't come up with a brand new sound here, but they take the genre created by bands like My Dying Bride, Paradise Lost, and Anathema, and developed by bands like Swallow the Sun and Novembers Doom, and they take it to a new level of near perfection in songwriting and atmosphere.

Nox Aurea plays a form of doom metal that utilizes a combination of sad dual guitar melodies, crushing palm muted riffs that wouldn't be out of place on an Autopsy record, frequent walls of mid tempo double bass drum parts (I can't imagine anyone not getting chills when the double bass enters The Loss and Endeavor of Divinity at about 5 minutes in), a mix of about 95% very dynamic growling and 5% melodic female vocals, and melodic and lush keyboards that are in the right place in the mix to be heard clearly, but never dominate the sound. The production on this album is superb. Every instrument can be heard clearly, and the mix is very balanced.

I've often seen Nox Aurea, especially in reviews of their first album (which I've heard once, but am not extremely familiar with), compared to fellow Swedes Draconian. This is probably due to the use of female vocals, but Nox Aurea uses them very sparingly compared to Draconian. Where they're central to Draconian's sound, Nox Aurea uses them just for additional layers of melody, the way many bands use lead guitar. Nox Aurea is much heavier on the doom, and lighter on the "gothic" than Draconian, and as I result I enjoy this much more than I do Draconian. Nox Aurea's sound never crosses the line into over dramatic or cheesy.

The other thing that sets Ascending in Triumph from similarly styled music from other bands is the songwriting. None of the songs have traditional structures (verse, chorus, etc) but rather flow from one movement to the next, with a cinematic-like beginning, middle, and end. Early themes from songs may return late, and may be modified and return in another form. That being said, the songs have a very natural progression to their movements, and transitions are handled perfectly. A song can start off with a very slow and sad guitar and keyboard counterpoint and take you to crushing death metal, without you even noticing the transition (The Delight of Autumn Passion). It takes great songwriting and arrangement skills to make very different sounding parts flow together with smooth transitions, and still give the songs a consistent feel.

In conclusion, this album (along with My Dying Bride's Turn Loose the Swans and maybe Swallow the Sun's Hope) is what I would play to promote the genre for someone who was interested in doom/death metal but had never heard it. Check it out if you have any interest whatsoever in doom metal.

Standout Tracks:

The Loss and Endeavor of Divinity
The Shadowless Plains
The Delight of Autumn Passion