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The pretentious German act Aurum Nostrum wanted to release their debut album in a fancy box, together with a bonus CD called The Origin of a Strenuous Path, a pin and postcard. The CD would be called Zure.
But after some errors in printing and years of waiting, it turned out that Zure was never finished at all, but the box was, and the bonus CD as well. So those who buy Zure will get a fancy box containing a bonus CD and nothing else.
Zure would have contained 12 tracks and the bonus CD has 8. Are they any good then? Not very. The project is lead by one man called René Uhde, who plays all the guitars and does the main vocals. While the music is about average, sometimes tending towards almost beautiful, the vocals sound near silly. A bit like Disney's Goofy actually. And they are sung in English. Personally I would have preferred to hear them in German. René has also hired some friends to play flute, bass, synths, violin, and a girl who is supposed to do the backing vocals but all she is doing is imitating René in the choruses. And she has a very boring voice as well.
Austrum Nostrum has previously released a split vinyl with Sonne Hagal and fans of that particular band are the most likely ones to enjoy this, but you can recognize influences from almost every German neofolk act to date.
To point out a favorite track here is an easy task. The only song that stands out is "Bard’s Crown" where René managed to capture the true spirit of melancholic, romantic neofolk. It's slow-driven with guitars and violins full of sorrow. But then we have those vocals again...
I do want to hear more from Aurum Nostrum, all the same. Maybe someday the main album will be released. Maybe the songs on The Origin of a Strenuous Path were sifted out from Zure because they were of a lower quality?
CME
But after some errors in printing and years of waiting, it turned out that Zure was never finished at all, but the box was, and the bonus CD as well. So those who buy Zure will get a fancy box containing a bonus CD and nothing else.
Zure would have contained 12 tracks and the bonus CD has 8. Are they any good then? Not very. The project is lead by one man called René Uhde, who plays all the guitars and does the main vocals. While the music is about average, sometimes tending towards almost beautiful, the vocals sound near silly. A bit like Disney's Goofy actually. And they are sung in English. Personally I would have preferred to hear them in German. René has also hired some friends to play flute, bass, synths, violin, and a girl who is supposed to do the backing vocals but all she is doing is imitating René in the choruses. And she has a very boring voice as well.
Austrum Nostrum has previously released a split vinyl with Sonne Hagal and fans of that particular band are the most likely ones to enjoy this, but you can recognize influences from almost every German neofolk act to date.
To point out a favorite track here is an easy task. The only song that stands out is "Bard’s Crown" where René managed to capture the true spirit of melancholic, romantic neofolk. It's slow-driven with guitars and violins full of sorrow. But then we have those vocals again...
I do want to hear more from Aurum Nostrum, all the same. Maybe someday the main album will be released. Maybe the songs on The Origin of a Strenuous Path were sifted out from Zure because they were of a lower quality?
CME