Augury
Temptation Of Oath

First of all, it is important to note that we are not talking about the Canadian Augury, but a group from Jordan. The band offers a blend of Melodic Death and Melodic Black Metal. "Temptation Of Oath" is their first demo, released in 2004.

The recording consists of only three tracks, a brief and concise release. The riffing and keyboard backgrounds significantly highlight the melodic aspect of the group, always delivering catchy and harmonic chords, although sometimes too predictable. Unlike the guitar riffs and keyboard backgrounds that are simple and linear, the solo parts of both instruments are engaging, technical, but not excessively so, the band aims to move the listener through instrumental skill and succeeds in doing so; there are various sensations you can experience, at times the references are dark and melancholic, other times the music offers more luminous glimpses. You won't find any virtuosity, but you'll have no difficulty being captivated by the atmosphere created by these guys, really a good job both from Basil Bursheh on keyboards and from Omar Nooreddin and Saed Abu-Jaber on six strings. Tareq Fayyad's growl is of a classic mold and rarely transforms into a scream, but neither style is executed in the best way, singing is one of the band's weak points, the voice sounds almost strained and at times completely expressionless. The other downside of this group is the rhythm section, the bass is completely anonymous, while the drummer merely keeps beating the usual tempos without a hint of originality and imagination, a drumming that's too linear and ultimately boring.

Overall, excluding the solo parts of guitars and keyboards, the work is flat and overly simplified. I was pleasantly surprised by the emotions this group manages to evoke with the solos, but that's not enough to make an album a good one. In my opinion, the debut of this band does not reach a satisfactory level, but since they are still in the early stages, they definitely have ample room for improvement.