Weekly album: Saor - Aura

Saor - Aura

2014/ Atmospheric folk black metal

1. Children of Mist

2. Aura

3. The Awakening

4. Farewell

5. Pillars of the Earth

Kattroll: When I first got to know Saor, you could say it was love at first listen. Nowadays I have their hoodie, t-shirt and both of their albums: 'Aura' and 'Roots, of which the former is absolute favourite. In my opinion, 'Aura' is a wonderfully coherent album, whose songs fit together like a glove and without repeating the same. This was one of the reasons I chose this album, but I mainly chose this because, in my opinion, everyone should listen to this even once.   

Even though the album does the thing for me in every possible situation, my favourite moment with it was when I listened to it in a national park. The rain was lashing against my face, the duckboards were slippery and the Finnish swamp scape was so beautiful, yet so rough, like this album. As I arrived to the swamp, my thoughts were quite confusing, but after the album was over, my mood was airy and I felt great. Trying to achieve similar experience is recommended to everyone, if there's a chance to do so. 

Orostider: Scotland, the home of haggis, bagpipe and William Wallace, is also home to Saor, originally known as Àrsaidh. Saor is probably the biggest underground metal phenomenon from Scotland for years and their reputation as the jewel of atmospheric pagan black metal is not just hot air. With a wide range of elements from post-rock to black metal, Saor has definitely assured its place as one of the most interesting acts in Europe.

The opening track 'Children of the Mist' begins the track with a wicked pagan black metal part with a tin whistle main melody. 'Children of the Mist' gives only a slight hint of what's yet to come, even if the overall form of the music remains the same. One of the elements that makes 'Aura' one of the best pagan black metal(-ish) to date, is the variety and strength of the sweet folk influenced melodies. The absolutely top notch songwriting, where every section fits, might be one of the reasons why the melodies, and the album itself, sound so majestically powerful.

One of the uncommon traits of the album is its ability to transmit the enchanting atmosphere of Scotland's meadows to the listener without sounding cheesy or overdoing the folk influenced parts. It might be that 'Aura' doesn't fit every possible mood, but the scale of the moods it goes through is just magnificent. The scale goes from melancholy and longing to joy and pure spiritual strength and the smoothness of the transitions is first class. 

tp5170: I have been listening to Saor occasionally for a while now and in my opinion Aura is simply a charming album. In fact, Aura was initially such an engaging experience that I listened to the album so many times that eventually a hefty break from it was in order.

I think that Saor has in general a pretty interesting sound but what makes Aura such a big deal for me is the atmosphere that keeps evolving and changing throughout the songs, justifying the rather long track lengths.  I also have to emphasize the realization of the pagan / folk theme which works beautifully and gives the album a Scottish face.

But like pretty much any other atmospheric black metal album, I think that also Aura requires a certain type of mindset from the listener for it to really reach its full potential, but when it does there’s nothing quite like it in the folk section of the genre. 

btcarey: Saor’s sophomore album “Aura” is a brilliant follow-up to their 2013 release “Roots”. With “Roots” quickly becoming one of my top Atmospheric black / folk metal albums of the past few years, I was delighted to find that Saor continued down the trail they laid with this new addition. While there are some noticeable stylistic differences between the two records, “Aura” feels like a natural evolution for the band’s sound.

Saor continues to focus on folk instruments and melodies, yet there seems to be a bigger concentration on the guitar and drum parts. The mix is still very fitting for the attitude of the music, which is a bit more aggressive than previously. Unfortunately this slight modification negates from the subtleties and atmosphere perfected on the previous album. This aside, the riffs are much more powerful here then on “Roots”.  Even with this much heavier sound Saor is able to maintain their elegant folk passages with ease (especially on the track “Children of the Mist”).

This is a great stand-alone album that is somewhat shadowed by its extraordinary predecessor. “Aura” will leave new fans begging for more and veterans with a solid sequel to their beloved “Roots”.

Favorite Song: Children of the Mist