Malignant Aura – Abysmal Misfortune is Draped Upon Me

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Australian Death/Doom outfit MALIGNANT AURA present their debut album here for your consumption. Their EPK did not contain any informational sheet, so I had to turn to The Metal Archives once again. The album contains six tracks. “Malignant Aura” opens the album. It begins with swirling winds and a dark, lumbering riff. Dissonant tones mix in along with harsh vocals. The landscape is barren. As it moves forward, the sound becomes even more hopeless. “A Timeless Place Beneath the Earth” opens with solemn lead guitar notes in triplicate. The dissonant guitar riff combines with harsh vocals and an ultra-low and heavy sound. The thick and weighted guitar tones keep any melody from escaping, and the guitar solo is fairly spastic, not really following the melody line.

“There Is Blackness in the Water” is a long 12-minute song. Opening with drums, the bleak riff shows its shadowed face. The pace hastens a bit, and that filthy riff and vocals carry much of the sound. Around the four-minute mark, the sound drops to clean guitars. As you stare into the water, you become increasingly unnerved. The horrid sound returns, and the final few minutes are chaotic. The title track begins with spoken words, and the dissonant sounds continue. Do not look for anything good or pure here. I get a little BLACK SABBABTH in some of the chord progressions, although the sound is fairly similar to the other tracks.

“A Soliloquy Beneath the Sepulchre” is another exercise in lumbering riffs and Doomy vocals. Unfortunately, the song just doesn’t go anywhere. I have heard many Doom bands bring dynamism to their music, but that is a key feature that is missing on this album. “…And So It Was That I Lay Down Forever” closes the album. The opening riff features a little variation, and dare I say it, a little melody? But that sound is soon dashed by another aggressive riff. Look at the song title and try to visualize what it is all about. Giving in…giving up…closing your eyes forever, for the world will not treat you with kid gloves.

The main problem with the album is that too many of the songs bled into one another. I have said this before, but when you are working within the genre of Doom Metal, you need to pay extra attention to make sure this doesn’t happen, because the slow nature of many of the songs lends itself to repetitiveness. That is the case here, unfortunately.

Songwriting: 5
Musicianship: 6
Memorability: 4
Production: 7