Aara – Triade II: Hemera

The Swiss Aara have been releasing an album every year and “Triade II: Hemera” is their fourth full-length album. Despite the fact that the main element of their atmospheric black metal is, of course, a tremolo-picked lead line over blastbeats, they manage to convey their message in a rather individual manner. Aara took the risk of diluting the shimmering tremolo melody with old-school death metal insertions such as palm-muted passages (‘Phantasmagorie’), groovy brutal riffs (‘Adonaia’s Elegien’ and ‘Sonne der Nacht’) and, of course, low-end tremolo-picked parts à la Immolation (‘Das Dunkel der Welt’ and ‘Strepitus Mundi’).

It’s not enough that such implantations are performed with surgical precision, that is, they do not tear the vortex-like canvas of songs at all. What is more, they give the general atmosphere of the album a certain amount of unearthly anger and rage. Added to all this, high-pitched shrieking female vocals, as if borrowed, by the way, from the depressive black metal range, enhance the “prickliness” of Aara’s music. Yes, more often than not Fluss’s voice feels like sandpaper on the ears, but sometimes she tries to sing with a clear voice: in ‘Sonne der Nacht’ her black metal shrieks duel with the Middle Eastern tinged clear voice to the accompaniment of the blasting rampage – it’s an impressive demonic dance.

The atmosphere of Aara is piercing, but not at all maudlin, like most bands of this genre. Even the symphonic black metal sections, which are sometimes wedged into the narrative (‘Strepitus Mundi’), do not soften the fervour. “Triade II: Hemera” is highly recommended for those who are addicted to atmospheric black metal but want variety.