Sorry, but my opinion stands: Aura's production is offensively bad. The one mistake I made there is
that it's really not the treble that's so harsh. In reality, upon closer inspection the cymbals are
muted nearly to oblivion. The guitars are distorted and overly loud, creating muddy chaos in the
mids. The bass drum lacks any kind of punch and the bass guitar is nearly audible (as is typical of
the genre). There's a lot of fairly indistinct noise here. The folk elements and the intro to
"Aura" are the cleanest parts of the entire album. (The second that intro fades out, though, "Aura"
descends into staticky chaos.)

For the record, I'm not what you could call a fully-fledged audiophile but I do have an ear for
recording quality. At home, I listen to my music on an iBasso DX90 with the latest firmware and a
pair of JVC HA FXT-90s; this is an extremely good entry-level audiophile rig that makes properly-
recorded music sound outstanding.

My car stereo consists entirely of Focal speakers and a JL Audio sub in a customized sealed
enclosure. My amps are made by JL Audio and Mosconi; my car is Dynamatted nearly everywhere.
All installation was done by professionals. If something sounds sketchy in my car it's the
recording's fault—not my system's. Aura sounds as "blah" in my car as it does through my mobile
rig.

Album Rating: 4.0

Almost as good as the new Panopticon

Album Rating: 3.5

What

Album Rating: 4.0

^ Exactly.

Album Rating: 4.5

I concur

nice review, this album rules

Album Rating: 4.5

Lol @ someone complaining about the production on this album.

Album Rating: 4.0

This album fucking slays

Album Rating: 3.0

This is one of the last things I'd call raw, especially in BM

Album Rating: 4.0

Yeah, it's hardly raw. Pretty polished tbh

Suggesting that Aura is well produced because Paysage d'Hiver and friends are "raw-er" is silly.
That's like claiming haggis doesn't really taste all that bad because the last thing you ate is a
festering deer corpse. The fact is there *are* standards for quality production and Aura falls
pretty far short of them.

I didn't say it's a bad album—far to the contrary, in fact. I simply said it deserves better than
it received, and there are flaws in the recording and mixing that do little justice to the talent
behind the music.

I get it, though: this is the Internet and I voiced a minority opinion (no matter how well-informed
it is). I'm wrong; you guys are right, and until I carve it into my wrist there will always be
someone mocking me for it. Still, I can't help but wonder how many people here listen to MP3s on
iPods with generic earbuds and actually believe they've ever experienced actual music. /rollseyes

Album Rating: 4.5

Dude it's ok you don't gotta type a novel trying to explain yourself every time it's not that big of a deal. m/

Album Rating: 3.0

I have a minority opinion too (1 of 11 votes lower than 3.5...) so I don't really see why that's relevant :b

Very nice review, man. This sounds awesome, not normally my cup of tea but I feel like I should try regardless.

Album Rating: 4.0

two things:

1. reading comprehension - look it up, it's handy.

2. nobody is going to read past your second sentence, nobody gives a shit. (i.e: tl, dr)

Album Rating: 4.5

Thanks for the compliments everyone!



@Tzarchasm: All I can say in response is that, as I stated in the review, the production isn't good, but it works so well for this style of music. I don't understand your arguments against the production here, it sounds like you're just bashing raw production in general which is completely unfair and also I don't even know what to make of your last comment.

Album Rating: 3.5

black metal production is a tricky thing. Some bands can use it as another instrument pushing the atmosphere of the music. Other times bands use it as a really cheap way to get kvlt status

Album Rating: 3.5

The vocals on this are awesome

Album Rating: 4.5

They're amazing. Fits the music so damn perfectly. The female vox are awesome too.

Album Rating: 3.5

female vox why didnt you tell me sooner?