AUGURY is a relatively new name in Montréal’s musical
landscape, yet the very idea of the band was in the air since the
musicians met in 1997. But serious stuff began in the winter of
2001/2002 when lead/classical guitarist Mathieu Marcotte left his band
Spasme and started auditioning a string of drummers to seriously start
a complete outfit. Shortly after, he was joined by soprano vocalist
Arianne Fleury and demented bass wizard Dominic “Forest” Lapointe and
started to jam complete songs.
In the mean
time, vocalist Patrick Loisel had pledged to join and, in February
2002, took a hiatus left his outfit Kralizec to become the band’s other
lead guitarist as well. In June of 2002, former Adenine’s drummer
Mathieu Groulx completed the line-up and helped the band shape their
first six songs and play its first show. However, lack of time and
different musical tastes led him to depart Augury.
For
a few months, the drummer-less outfit spent time writing more songs,
focusing on strings instruments arrangements. Then, to the relief of
everyone, the final missing piece fell in the puzzle as drummer Étienne
Gallo took over the seat. After months of arranging and rehearsing the
songs, AUGURY finally commit their work into an album. Concealed was
recorded by Yannick St-Amand and mixed by Jean-François Dagenais. |
AUGURY
doesn’t identify itself with any pre-established school of music, but
it can be fit into the extreme metal category since they favor fast
playing, low tuning and rough vocals. A further link can be made with
the Norwegian symphonic Black Metal scene, for the use of classical,
Celtic and medieval overtones and the lush vocal harmonies that
embellish about half of the songs. Triplet feels and guitar/bass dual
and triple harmonies are indeed a staple of Augury’s music. Yet, there
is no keyboard, no fake vampire image and a totally different lyrical
concept.
Also, the musicians add influences
from a lot of other sources. All members are big fans of progressive
rock, classical baroque and jazz and there is a big flamenco influence
(Strunz & Farrah, Paco de Lucia, Don Ross) in the playing. Strings
players alone total almost 50 years of practicing their instruments and
Patrick started singing in the late 80’s while Arianne is classically
trained. Yet, everyone still yearns to widen his or her horizon... |