Auspex - Resolutio

Year of Release: 2008
Label: Thundering Records
Catalog Number: 880961
Format: CD
Total Time: 54:45:00

A young, beginning band can face quite a few challenges. Once you have a stable line-up, you have to write music that is fresh and appealing, find a label that is interested and take the music on the road. When you look around, there are many bands with a female singer, a sort of aftershock of the wave of gothic bands that swept the world a few years ago.

I recently stumbled upon a band that fits the above description. What are their chances? After having heard their first full length album, I have to say their chances look quite good! Yes, there is still room for female fronted metal bands and there are still bands that offer fresh and appealing music. This band is called Auspex and they hail from Grenoble, France.

Of course I found this band via MySpace; the samples already attracted me and I got in touch with the band. As result I am enjoying their first album, entitled Resolutio. Now I will be honest: the band offers melodic metal with symphonic edges and a female singer. So yes, they are not that original. Still they have managed to deliver a debut album that sounds very good. And one thing is very clear when you listen to the band: They are excellent musicians! All of them.

The enthusiasm with which they wrote and recorded the album is very much present in their sound, and that is what makes the album a pleasure to listen to. Especially the guitar duo Lionel and Arthur ... man, they are good! Ranging from fast and melodic to shredding, and everything in between. I can't wait to see these guys play live.

Of course it is not a two man show, but a six person show. Throughout the album drummer Fred shows he can give the songs the backbone they need, together with Alex on bass. Fred's play is subtle, never over the top and yet powerful. When listening to the album, I enjoy how much the band works together and form one complete picture. Pierre-Yves forms the icing on the musical cake. He adds the symphonic and orchestral parts to the music. And it is in this department the band shows they are not afraid to experiment, like in "Theater Of Pain," they add some technobeats to the song! Very daring, because such a thing could easily backfire. But for some reason I do not find it out of place. No, it actually sounds different, but good different.

Singer Elodie has a very good voice. Not an operatic voice, like Sharon den Adel (Within Temptation) or Tarja Turunen (ex-Nightwish), but more midrange. Her voice fits the songs like a glove. My only point of criticism on the album is that the vocals are mixed too far back. They should have been more on top. She definitely has the vocals for it.

All the ingredients are there and the band has delivered a very good, uptempo melodic metal album, with a fresh sound. Some highlights: "Subjective Architecture," "Theater Of Pain," "Celestia" and the magnum opus of the album: "Rise," clocking almost 12 minutes. This is a good example of saving the best for last!

Tracklisting:
Subjective Architecture / Time To Make A Stand / Theater Of Pain / Lost Academy / Mysteries Of The Stars / Phantoms / Celestia / A King's Crown For A Wealthy Weak / Rise

Musicians:
Pierre-Yves - keyboards, backing vocals
Elodie - lead vocals
Alex - bass, backing vocals
Fred - drums
Lionel - guitars
Arthur - guitars, backing vocals

Discography:
Resolutio (2008)

Genre: Progressive-Power Metal

Origin FR

Added: March 30th 2008
Reviewer: Marcel Haster
Score:
Artist website: www.auspexmusic.com
Hits: 3095
Language: english