“Le Fol”, Audrey Horne’s stunning previous album really caught me unawares with its upbeat rockiness and indie styled melody. The bands self titled third album is a wondrous foray into hard rock tempos and layered harmonies. There are obvious Green Carnation touches here and there and once the short “These Vultures” has ended “Charon” is an excellent fusion of smooth riffing and scintillating vocal harmonies that are truly mesmerising. The multilayered tones create a sonically textured album with a multitude of facets that strike you from all directions.
“Circus” is superbly melodic with an eerie, almost creepy keys undertone and mid section. “Down Like Suicide” had me reminiscing over Soundgarden’s halcyon days in an era of time when the border between indie and rock/metal was blurred unrecognisably. As mentioned previously this album covers many facets of rock, metal and indie music and it wouldn’t be amiss to say that “Blaze Of Ashes” has an 80s metal vibe akin to the likes of Dio as the song morphs into “Sail Away” which begins softly with powerful uplifting vocals that build ballad like into pure rock brilliance.
When listening to this album you will be amazed at how quickly the 50 minute duration seems to disappear, such is its absorbing power. Old fellas like me can pick out an array of old influences that may or may not be intentional, such as the Deep Purple or Uriah Heep tainted anthem of “Bridge And Anchors” or the Amorphis vibe on the mid section of “Pitch Black Mourning”. The bands use of retro leads is a factor that makes this album that bit more special, especially on “Firehose”. The album closes with a rather poignant song titled “God speed” which contains the repeated line of “Farewell…. Farewell, We will see you again”, and I hope that I certainly will as this album is rather special and will certainly be a contender for one of the best albums of 2010, its that good.
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