To be honest, I thought the band was treading water with the last couple of albums, and in fact with 2007's 'Brothers Keeper' thought they were drowning not waving.
Now that they are a confirmed fourpiece - Ule Ritgen, Tommy Heart, CC Behrens and Helge Engelke - they seem once again comfortable inside the
Fair Warning skin. They've nothing to prove anymore.
The result? '
Aura' is the best album they've made since '
Rainmaker'. Relaxed, powerful, inventive. Full of bravura performances and exotic, carefully crafted arrangements. The music sways back and forth between beautifully constructed Eurorock and the band's own classy, patented sound, flirting gracefully with eastern cultures and with an occasional hint of contemporary spin.
'
Here Comes The Heartache' is primetime
Fair Warning. Romanticised melodic rock, with Engelke's guitar hammering out a parallel melody to Heart's chest beating vocal.
'
Rainmaker's acoustic foundation is reprised on '
Hey Girl', though this time the guitars crank up into a more deliberate and ambitious electric noise, faster and louder.
'
Don't Count On Me' has a genuine adult resonance, like it was the first true, grown up son of '
Rainmaker'. As on many tracks here, Engelke's soloing is a wonder to behold, weaving and whirling in an ecstacy of sublime axework.
It almost gets submerged in a froth of guitar arpeggios and twinkling keyboards, but the beguiling '
Falling' emerges as one of the album's outstanding tracks. The balladic, sweetly orchestrated '
Holding On' boosts momentum as we go into the second half of the album. But it's the unassuming, medium paced
'Someday' that morphs into a lightning bolt of song writing brilliance, illuminating the band's rediscovered confidence and providing the big push toward the finishing line.
A word for anyone worried that the new material might get smothered by the influential Engelke - his penchant for throwing in everything plus several kitchen sinks all but suffocated his Dreamtide releases - thankfully, there is no sign of that here. Either they kept him and his guitar at a safe distance, or he's learned the error of his ways.
One way or the other, this is an outstanding album.
Written by
Brian Thursday, June 25, 2009
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