siLLy puPPy The Canadian province of Quebec has long been associated with an exotic artistic flair that they inherited from their French connections with some of the nation’s most arty examples of both progressive rock as well as avant-garde metal having emerged within the province’s border. The Montreal based AUGURY is yet one more band to emerge from this fleur-de-lis setting and has been quite the contribution to the more progressive side of technical death metal. A long plan in the making with the blueprint being sown in the 90s, AUGURY finally formed in 2002 after lead guitarist Mathieu Marcotte at last left his band Spasme. The search was then on for the suitable team to carry out the desired agenda of creating a pummeling death metal sensation laced with various styles and nuances of disparate genres.

After the many auditions and plucking from other unknown bands from the local scene, the final lineup ended up with Dominic Lapointe (bassist from Atheretic), Patrick Loisel (vocalist, guitarist), Étienne Gallo (drums) and soprano vocalist Arianne Fleury. The band quickly coalesced a series of new tracks with each members adding their signature elements to the mix. As the death metal band became more adventurous, many new elements of folk, progressive rock and classical were added and after some time in the production and mixing processes emerged the band’s debut album CONCEALED in 2004. The album caught the tech death world by storm and put AUGURY on the map from the start and although a mere bunch of newbies on the scene, came across as well-vetted masters of the scene as if they were some sort of supergroup.

While it’s true that many a death metal band that throws in a few “alternative” passages can qualify as progressive these days, AUGURY is the real deal. “Beatus” starts off with a symphonic acoustic guitar passage with feminine diva soprano vocals slowly entering the scene but after the proper melodic developments are introduced, the band breaks into some serious death metal which is by far the dominant style on CONCEALED with million mile per hour crushing guitar riffs, stylized technical drum frenzies and thoughtful interplay between the bass, guitar and percussion. The band not only focus on tight top notch compositional styles that differentiate each track from the next but find interesting methods of adding softer and acoustic intros and interludes to create an interesting dynamic contrast.

While the album is primarily in-yer-face tech death metal with galloping angular guitar riffs on speed, there are many passages with Enslaved type viking metal that emphasize traditional folk melodies that implement clean vocal techniques and while Fleury’s feminine charm is usually reserved for moments of contrast, on the Celtic folk inspired “The LaIr Of Purity” she takes the reins with a prominent beauty and the beast role as well as the clean male folk vocals. However on “As Sea Devours Land” she gets to unleash her lead vocal charms as she escapes the diva role and is allowed to belt out her full metal charm. The album is well paced with nice little folky acoustic parts that segregate the brutal death metal from more subdued moments. Melody is the emphatic focus which is allowed to expand into neighboring dimensions.

CONCEALED is a really brilliant exercise in progressive leaning technical death metal. It exceeds in the tech department with the excessive guitar wankery behind the scenes including a few neoclassical solo moments as well as dishing out pleasant progressive developments. Likewise the band implement firm control over the ratio of brutality to the sensual counter forces which give AUGURY a much broader spectral resonance than the average death metal band. All in all, the album flows almost flawlessly with only the all acoustic “From Eden Estranged” wearing out its welcome with a rather unnecessary and repetitive strum-athon through the acoustic nothingness. AUGURY is a band where the mastery of the musical elements on board is exquisite and the production is perfectly crystal clear yet abrasively pleasant when the rougher aspects dominate. CONCEALED is a must hear for lovers of aggressive and complex death metal taken to extremes.

Warthur Even though lead vocalist Patrick Loisel shifts between death growls and clean vocals, and Arianne Fleury contributes some female vocals here and there, make no mistake: Augury are a tough, hardline death metal group whose technical and progressive approach doesn't amount to an overall softening of their approach. Yes, the album has its quieter, acoustic moments, but in practice these are used to build tension and ensure that the more brutal moments hit all the harder. I'm not sure Augury are necessarily destined to rewrite the technical death metal rulebook, but Concealed is a decent enough exercise in the form which followers of this style will appreciate.

adg211288 Concealed is the debut album from Canadian progressive death metal act Augury which was released in 2004. The sound of the band is extreme, yet melodic and there are many atypical elements in the sound even for progressive death metal, such as the regular inclusion of female vocals, which are sometimes in an operatic style. Parts of the music could also be considered as avant-garde death metal, especially the opening track Beatus, the weirdest sounding piece on the album.

The weirdness of Beatus aside Concealed delivers much high quality material in the prog/tech death metal style which can easily also be considered as much brutal death metal, for the sound never lacks for intensity unless they purposely throws in a light section, which they are wont to do. The guitars are crushing and most of the growls deep and powerful. Augury does not make music for the casual listener. It’s very easy for the proggy death metal acts to be thrown into the same boat as ‘vanilla’ prog metal acts such as Dream Theater by many listeners (and sometimes this is justified, as with Opeth), but Augury leaves no room for doubt that their loyalties lie with death metal.

The best thing about that though is that Augury has no lack of progressive credentials either. They veer off the death metal path a lot in this album through use of those female vocals I mentioned and also with some clean male vocals as well. I’m just as impressed with Patrick Loisel’s cleans as much as I am with his growls. I expect if most death metal acts tried an album such as this the clean male vocals would be highly melodic, as in melodic death metal. Loisel’s singing voice has an edge to it that puts him in a different league to the clean vocalists of the melodeath style. His clean vocals wouldn’t be out of place in a number of non-extreme metal style including traditional metal, US power metal, and perhaps even some forms of folk metal but they’re definitely different for what clean vocals death metal normally has.

The prog comes in more forms than just vocal variation though. For example the album features a track called The Lair of Purity, the best track in my opinion, which features a lot of clean melodic guitar work as well as all three vocal styles. The opening melody is excellent and as far removed from death metal as you can get but before long the track builds up into Augury’s signature death metal sound with an added level of epic flavour that is quite unlike anything else I’ve heard. Every track offers something special however, but I have to single out Cosmic Migration and Alien Shores in this review as well, as personal favourites as least (along with Beatus).

The musicianship is excellent across the board but I have to give special mention to bassist Dominic "Forest" Lapointe who uses his instrument to add a whole extra dimension of Augury’s music. He’s easily one of the few bassists whose playing really demands that you take note of him.

Concealed is much more than a top quality debut album from Augury. It’s an album which they’ll never top (but hopefully one day equal) because it really doesn’t have a single flaw. It is an essential purchase for any death metal fan and a perfect rating is given whole-heartedly from me.

10.0/10

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org))

UMUR "Concealed" is the debut full-length studio album by Canadian technical/progressive death metal act Augury. The album was released through the independent, Montreal based label Galy Records in September 2004.

The music on "Concealed" is at it´s core brutal death metal, but there are so many other things going on, that a description like that doesn´t do the music justice at all. There´s a high level of technical playing on the album but I wouldn´t say that technical playing is the primary focus on "Concealed". There is a lot of focus on atmosphere too. The tempos on the tracks vary from mid-paced to blasting. No matter which pace the band are playing in, this is the kind of album where you have to be the type who are able to appreciate constant double bass drums because that element is used a lot on "Concealed".

In addition to the death metal elements on the album there are also elements from progressive metal on "Concealed". While the death metal parts are certainly brutal there are lots of melodic playing on the tracks too. Beautiful guitar solos and an emphasis on variation within the tracks keep "Concealed" exciting all the way through the 49:10 minutes long playing time. All tracks on the album are high quality compositions and after a couple of listens they are easy to tell apart, even though they are relatively complex and rather challenging. Towards the end of the album tracks like the ethnic Scandinavian flavoured and Viking metal influenced "The Lair of Purity" and the instrumental acoustic/electric "From Eden Enstranged..." mean that the variation level increases even more. It´s up for discussion how well the former fits with the atmosphere of the rest of the album and how good it is for the overall flow, but that´s probably a matter of aquired taste. To be honest I´m a bit biased.

The vocals on the album are predominantly deep growls, but there are also both clean male vocals and female ditto on some tracks. The latter mentioned vocal style is most prominant in the opening track "Beatus" where the female vocals are in operatic style, but also tracks like "In Russian Dolls Universes", "The Lair of Purity" and "...As Sea Devours Land" feature female vocals. The clean male vocals remind me of the singing style of Pasi Koskinen (Amorphis).

The sound production is clean, powerful and professional. Some might find it a bit too polished, but again that´s an aquired taste. "Concealed" is upon conclusion an excellent technical/progressive death metal album by Augury. Fans of the genre are adviced to check it out. A band that releases a high quality debut like "Concealed" deserves to be heard by as many people as possible. A 4.5 star (90%) rating is well deserved.