The Church

Priest = Aura

An aural masterpiece

Review Score:

(10/10)
This album right here embodies every little aspect that I love about the Church. Although they put out some amazing material before this and some great stuff since, this work still remains in my mind the greatest effort of their career. Marty Willson-Piper's guitars move from soaring walls of feedback and overdriven bliss to hauntingly chiming 12-string melodies on his trademark Rickenbackers. Peter Koppes holds up the rich undertones, filling in all the gaps with his precise, smooth playing and atmospheric touches. One-time drummer Jay Dee Daugherty keeps a tight, jazz-like feel on the skins throughout the songs, dropping down to light brush-work on "Swan Lake," and charging up to rolling toms on "Chaos." And Steve Kilbey maintains his throbbing bass tones, while weaving delicate, surreal tales in his rich and distinctive baritone voice. Each song smoothly glides into the next one, creating a complete piece from all the component parts. This ain't a collection of songs here, folks - this is an ALBUM.

The key to Priest=Aura is to listen to it LOUD, preferably even with headphones. There are layers of sound to sort through in this album. . .even after owning it for eight years, I still catch new parts every now and then that I hadn't noticed before . The music here is something you absorb, not just listen to. The lyrics paint out epic scenes, the guitar textures fashion a landscape of sound, and the bass and drums set a tight intensity and dynamic for each musical "setting." Still, it is the songs that create the whole, so it would be unfair not to recognize some of them. "Aura" opens the album with a lush keyboard line, before eventually transforming itself into an incredible mass of guitarwork. "Ripple" continues with the aural magnificence, highlighting what is likely one of Peter Koppes's best solos ever. "Mistress" is a delicate, beautiful song, accented by sad string effects and exquisite guitar touches, while "Kings" underlines that famed Willson-Piper/Koppes interplay, as the guitar parts bounce back and forth over Kilbey's melodic Bass VI parts. Among the most interesting tracks, however, is "The Disillusionist," which possesses such intense imagery in its coupling of Kilbey's lyrical tale and the guitar parts that it is almost frightening. The grand epic though, is definitely "Chaos," which rumbles and roars in sonic power, building up in intensity until it finally cascades and collapses downwards into nothing again.

Forget the radio and MTV, kids. . .this is music that can really take you places.

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