EP REVIEW: Stolen Angelic Tongues – Auroch

Vancouver’s AUROCH are one of the many hidden gems within Canada’s excellent extreme metal underground. Since changing their name from TUSK back in 2008, and with a musical shift away from thrash to a heady brand of blackened death metal, the band have gone from strength to strength, reaching their apex with 2016’s brilliant Mute Books album. After a three and a year break from working on new music, the band have released two EP’s in quick succession. The second of these in particular, Stolen Angelic Tongues, is an impressive record with a great, varied sound, and acts as a great return for AUROCH.

Hideous New Gods makes up for the slightly jumbled and aimless intro track that preceded it with some ferocious death metal with some razor sharp, jarring leads, aggressive, energetic drumming and thick, sludgy vocals. It’s an intense and acerbic affair with plenty of chaotic moments peppered throughout. Carving the Axis Mundi, a monstrous and discordant juggernaut of a track, gives Stolen Angel Tongues a punishing, monolithic shot in the arm that builds on the many strengths of the last track, with a vast, crushing rhythm sound that is interlaced with intricate drums and slick guitar hooks, with the music often descending into cacophonous, frenetic moments and other more sonorous, hypnotic motifs. It’s a fantastic, eclectic piece of music that stands as this records impressive centre piece.

Coffin Nails acts as another short, sharp shock of caustic, feral death metal with lots of catchy riffs, demonic gutturals and some of the best drumming on the whole album. It’s a whirlwind of rabid musicianship with some great, groove-laden sections adding even more depth to the sound of this particular offering. It’s a brilliant piece of music that draws the listener in immediately, and stands as perhaps the highlight of the album, with the dark, ambient quality of Erecting the Axid Mundi capping the album off with a brief, atmospheric track that makes use of primal percussion and crisp acoustic passages to create a beguiling and engrossing climactic note for Stolen Angel Tongues.

Other than the shaky start from Shattering the Axis Mundi, it’s quite hard to find much fault with the music on offer here. AUROCH manage to strike an excellent balance between solid, crushing rhythms and far more cacophonous, chaotic moments, giving this E.P and intense and diverse sound all the way through. If this record is anything to go by, AUROCH are at their absolute best, producing some of their most imaginative and captivating work to date.

Rating: 8/10

Stolen Angelic Tongues is set for release April 24th via 20 Buck Spin.