Austhral - Tocado A Vento
Face The Abyss Records
Folky Black Metal
10 songs (51:19)
Release year: 2008
Austhral, Face The Abyss Records
Reviewed by Goat

Hailing from Brazil, Folk/Black Metallers Austhral here present their debut album as the second ever release on Face The Abyss Records. It’s immediately obvious that these guys are good at what they do, Tocado A Vento having a professional feel to it despite the band forming merely four years ago, with nought but a single demo to their name since. Everything here, from the fast riffs to the technical drums, works together to give this the feel of something that a far more visible band in the scene could have produced – this isn’t a million miles away from Rotting Christ or Finntroll, although it lacks the atmosphere that those two possess in spades.

There’s only one problem with the album, really - after a couple of listens the songs start to blend together, despite them working well individually. Opener Forgotten Fields twists and turns without losing the gripping speed and energy, Foresta Dell’ombra has a sea-shanty tone, whilst the Proggy piano solo in eight-minute finale The Horn’s First Sound hints at bigger and better things to come. However, placed one after the other songs can get dull, despite hints of a truly epic sound in the likes of Conquered Nature.

For a debut, Tocado A Vento is impressive, but as an album in the wider Metallic sea it lacks that ineffable something that would make Austhral worth hunting down. Alas, as things are it’s a stretch to call this anything more than an above average take on a style done better elsewhere.

MySpace
Killing Songs :
Forgotten Fields, Foresta Dell’ombra, The Horn’s First Sound
Goat quoted 68 / 100
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