The illimitable-granted phenomena of perceptual illusion amidst the hallucination that is consciousness presents as just one of many nodes of thought within this supremely realized ninth full-length album from Waldorf, Maryland-based blackened death metal trio AURORA BOREALIS. Presented as more of a collection of short stories rather than their typically expansive conceptual epic ‘Disillusioned by the Illusion‘ digs into both the personal and the hypersurreal on their wall-to-wall pummel through black, death and thrash metal enthralled muse. As one of the most consistent, long running high-standard names in the United States black/death underground for decades there’s no real danger of this record falling short amidst their colonnade of quality though some may be surprised by the technical feats and maniac grooves supplied within.

Aurora Borealis have been around since ~1994 under the direction of vocalist/guitarist and engineer Ron Vento (Imperial Crystalline Entombment) who has consistently brought an indisputably high standard for extreme metal musicianship, production values, and rapid fire intensity since. Though they have worked with a number of labels over the years Vento‘s directive has always been steadfastly self-directed and this’d meant the numerous self-released albums in their discography bear their own underground festooned reputation. The style of the band has vacillated over the years per various production values applied but generally speaking their work is rooted in a form of high-rate blackened death metal often delivered at lightning-struck speed and within concept albums. Rather than chunk through an extended bio my review of the band’s eighth LP (‘Prophecy is the Mold in Which History is Poured‘, 2022) details favorites and the general path of the group. The gist is a progression which begins relevant to stuff like Pessimist and Vital Remains but later evolves toward the technical wrath presented by certain eras of Absu and Centurian.

‘Disillusioned by the Illusion‘ is I believe one of the first non-conceptual albums presented by Aurora Borealis to date, straying from the conspiratorial sometimes sci-fi sprawling mythos presented throughout their discography for the sake of creating standalone pieces largely connected by their intensity. The result is a ~46 minute album which manifests as a running-and-gunning tour of the band’s best traits delivered with a tactical shotgun, heavy on ruthless death metal grooves and snarling black demeanor; The rapacious blast-and-groove haul through opener “Millisecond Pulsar” generally indicates the scope of this album’s expression wherein percussive death metal movement and a riff-packed thread strike with great efficiency and without forgetting to cycle back through to compound key points of impact.

Vento‘s hand as a technician has long informed both the high-stakes precision and speed of Aurora Borealis‘ signature as well as the lucid, immediately present standard provided by his NightSky Studios capture which in the case of ‘Disillusioned by the Illusion‘ generally works off similar ethos as their previous LP: Loud and extremely present. This means a strong emphasis on the interaction of the guitar and drum performances as major feature with their interplay being the most key machine for all movement, an explicitly technical feat presented with machinelike precision and in this case allowing slightly more room for bigger grooves to break out and command any given piece. Among the ten songs included here the second half of the album (re: “Night Cannibals”, Those Yet to Come” etc.) develops a heavier hand in this direction as the band produce some of the most muscularly stabbed riffs you’ll likely hear all year.

The goal of standalone pieces, in subject and in their rhythmic mark, is maybe overstated to some degree as most of ‘Disillusioned by the Illusion‘ presents as a whirring tunnel-envisioned array riff which only intensifies as the album presses on. There are some clear standouts for my own taste but these’d revealed themselves more clearly after numerous listens, the first impression is one of neck whipping and at times clinical aggression that’d of course reminded of the standards for brutality circa the crucial peak of Nile-era USDM (re: Lecherous Nocturne, et al.) in the early-to-mid 2000’s. (see: “Molten Sea”). As for standouts which press beyond the known “Phase Transition” particularly stood out to me not only for its tumbling and blasting edge but the eerie sci-fi synth/SFX warped breaks at ~45 seconds and the ~2:44 minute mark, these deliver unique muse (see also: outro to “Darkness His Canopy”) which’d stood out when returning to the extreme density of riff ideas otherwise.

Gunned and ripping as the first half of ‘Disillusioned by the Illusion‘ proves to be I’d found myself locked into Side B more consistently, there I’d felt the rhythm section is given slightly more room to breathe and spike into a few brief black metallic strands along the way. The aforementioned “Night Cannibals” and its float between huge warped grooves, blackened swiping and a kinda prog-death coded chop is probably the standout moment of the full listen for my taste and does well to set the ear up for the riddling n’ thrashing rants of “Those Yet to Come” beyond. This is the peaking high of the whole deal and while the final two pieces are just as ace as any other on this album there isn’t much fanfare supplied at the end, the album simply halts after “Your Penumbra” whips past.

There’ll be no denying the high standard of craft here as Aurora Borealis‘ 90’s and 2000’s developed aggression receives a real bevvy of death metal grooves at an impossibly precise, frenzy-fed delivery. Though you are guaranteed to find nothing less than the exacting signature of the band on ‘Disillusioned by the Illusion‘ you won’t find a complete paradigm shift, rather a successful attempt to loosen some of their rhythmic strictures into heavier-flexed motion and away from high-concept captured vision. The greater impact of their work here is otherwise well-representative of the bands pathway, always ruthlessly forward-set, through decades served idealism. A high recommendation.

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