Country of origin:United States
Location:Lansing, Michigan
Status:Active

Formed in:N/A
Genre:Ambient/Industrial Black Metal
Lyrical themes:N/A
Current label:Moribund Records
Years active:N/A

DISCOGRAPHY

Auriga Dying Full-length 2006
Ascending the Solarthrone Full-length 2014

current line up

90000065b Programming
Gestalt Unknown
Boethius Vocals
See also: ex-Quintessence, ex-Röt

REVIEWS

Total industrial desolation. - 80%
Inabayama, July 26th, 2015
Written based on this version: 2008, CD, Moribund Records

I feel “Auriga Dying” by Empire Auriga is, the more I listen to it, one of the most painfully underrated albums ever to come out of the experimental wing of black metal. Honestly, in my opinion, the only black metal thing about this album are occasional vocals reminiscent of the genre. The rest is purely under the large umbrella of traditional industrial and noise. Due to it’s release on Moribund, many probably wrote off the project. Some maybe enjoyed it, and felt the need to proclaim how it’s “industrial black metal”. The grave error of genre pigeonholing seems to have cost this album the recognition it deserves, since it is through and through an industrial/noise album (I use the term noise really loosely as an umbrella term that covers power electronics, death industrial, harsh noise etc).

Perhaps if “Auriga Dying” was released on a label like Hospital Productions, it would have garnered more renown. It has barely anything in common with fellow Moribund artists, or even artists who make industrial black metal. The harsh, gritty textures of “Auriga Dying” firmly bring to mind the aforementioned styles of power electronics and death industrial, with occasionally ambient and drone excursions. A group like fellow midwesterners Wolf Eyes would be a very apt starting point for comparison. From the heralding bleat of an air raid siren on opener “Time Expanding” to the eerie Coil-esque drones of closer “Dust and Ether”, the album as a whole is an oppressive, dirty and vaguely conceptual crawl through darkness. Many of the tracks here bolster the overall sci-fi theme, in both title and sound. Certain tracks, like “Time Expanding” and “Dreaming of Breath and Stars” achieve this through the use of sonic textures that aren’t by themselves musical, but when twisted and mangled, add to various elements of the composition, mainly in the form of rhythm and percussion. Tracks like “Waiting for the Fall” and “Dust and Ether” really create a picture of the desolate void of space, with an overarching feeling of subdued doom and tension.

Long before metal bands like Altar of Plagues, The Body et al decided to incorporate true industrial music into their sound, Empire Auriga created a completely singular work of industrial music within the confines of metal labels, listeners, and culture. Unfortunately, “Auriga Dying” probably went unrecognized in industrial and noise scenes because of that. False marketing seems to be a frequent problem for bands that are on, or beyond, the bleeding edge of their respective musical circles. I concede that I am unaware of the motives of Empire Auriga when they set out to create this album. Maybe they went into “Auriga Dying” with the intention of making industrial black metal. Hell, maybe they even consider this album industrial black metal. I am not sure. Nor have I listened to the band’s follow up, “Ascending the Solarthrone”, so I am unable to comment on that album’s stylistic content. However, those wishing to indulge in slightly conceptual, dingy, atmospheric, and heavy industrial music should absolutely give “Auriga Dying” a spin.

Marching into gray climates - 65%
autothrall, February 19th, 2011

Empire Auriga is yet another example in how black metal is being triumphantly bridged into external mediums of sound, or rather; how the core, lo-fi aesthetics of the genre are adapted to a spacious, martial industrial landscape. If you could picture a middle ground between Triarii and Summoning, then you will be well prepared for the sounds of this Michigan outfit. Bleak repetition, banks of distorted guitars, a mix of rasped and chanted vocals, and monolithic industrial drum programming that feels like a labyrinth of gears and pipes churning out the repressed ambitions of a generations lost to the vastness of civilization and space.

There is a variation of intensity through several of the tracks. Where "Time Expanded" provides but a steady march through sirens, resonant raw guitar tones and distant horns, the more extensive "Sorrowsong" cycles from cavernous electronic noises to massive swelters of sad guitar melodies and oppressive vocals that are barely audible as they hiss against the infernal clanking of the percussion. "Dreaming of Breath and Stars" is a dour anthem for the downtrodden, with more of the mystical, distant guitars ringing off against the central tumult of despair; while shorter tracks like "The Lurker" writhe with the dissonance of speech samples, or the walls of guitar ambiance that characterize "Soul Interrupt". But perhaps my favorite track on the entire effort is the closer, "Dust and Ether", which is a simple, escalating dark ambient track that escalates through a central pier of dense noise, harried by light synths and distant howls and samples.

As interesting as I found Empire Auriga's atmosphere, I do feel like the material is not quite so hypnotic as I might have hoped. Certainly it's interesting, intelligent and has a firm grasp of its minimal nature, but there was a fraction more monotony than I desired, and where groups like Svarte Keiner, Karjalan Sissit, or Megaptera complete suck me into their compositions, I felt a few moments where I was looking at my watch, wondering if something more interesting would occur. This isn't the case so much for the longer pieces ("Dust and Ether", "Sorrowsong") but for those in between, which don't seem to bear the same massive vision. That said, this is only the first recording, and the fundamentals for something enormous are being laid here that might one day thrill fans of the visceral, dark black/ambient and industrial suggestion of obscure artists like I Shalt Become, etc. which are simply more revelatory at this point.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Dreaming of breath and stars - 75%
Muloc7253, July 7th, 2009

You really have to be in the right mindset to enjoy 'Auriga Dying'. This is black metal sure, but it has much more in common with ambient, industrial and neofolk like Current 93. Infact, Current 93 and Death in June are listed as influences on this project, and you can definitely feel that in their music. This isn't music to get excited to, the whole album is slow-paced, it starts off that way and remains that way right until the end. It's relaxed music, very calming but also very evocative, Empire Auriga brings to mind the image of entire galaxy slowly dying, sad yet beautiful with simple, elegant riffs repeated over and over.

Empire Auriga isn't just black metal though. The black metal elements are in the vein of modern post-black metal bands like Drudkh and AX, yet the only authentic instrument I can detect is the guitar. The drums are programmed, but it's not a drum machine. It's a loud, drawn out electronic thud, reminiscent of something you'd hear in Neofolk/Post-industrial music more than anything in extreme metal. There's also lots of static and fuzz in the background, aswell as beautiful layers of ambience, taking Empire Auriga away from black metal's Bathory and Venom roots almost entirely. There's also a strong doom influence, in the slow, crawling feel of the music and also the distant vocals that feel more funeral doom than traditional black metal.

This is a great album to listen to, not necessarily when you're really excited and looking for something to get your adrenaline pumping (like 95% of my music collection), but for very early in the morning or very late at night, when you just want to lie back and reflect on the world, there is a lot to absorb on 'Auriga Dying'. I'd recommend this to fans of post-black metal just as much as I'd recommend it to fans of Current 93 and Swans, it's a good midpoint between both sounds that shouldn't disappoint either fans.

Industrial BM world of social collapse - 75%
NausikaDalazBlindaz, November 23rd, 2008

The album looks like it has a sci-fi theme and some of the track titles seem inspired by sci-fi / fantasy novels or games but the music is definitely industrial BM. Intro "Time Expanding" thrusts you straight into an alternative sci-fi world of war sirens, militaristic rhythms, blaring trumpets and steely guitar buzz suggestive of widespread police state oppression, constant war and potential mass revolts. The uneasy mood continues into the long "Sorrowsong", a very melancholy piece with a slow dragging rhythm and a pounding beat. A BM influence is present in heavily distorted vocals that can barely be distinguished from the cloudy rumbling guitars and constant one-note throb in the murk and thumping rhythm structure. Very relentless and downbeat with a dank depressed atmosphere established in these two songs, "Auriga Dying" sure does not beat around the bush: this recording is all about a very prolonged downfall into certain oblivion.

You quickly pick up the pattern for the first half of the album: tracks tend towards a hard-hitting machine rhythm often with metallic beats or a very industrial feel, overlaid by a mix of buzzing guitar, bombastic synths which are usually not over the top and vocals that may be field recordings of radio speeches or actual distorted voices that are half-speaking / half-chanting. The music is often dense and clouded over, and tends to be repetitive and quite minimal in structure. As the album progresses it becomes less strident and more inward-looking - track 5 "Waiting for the Fall" is at once a noisy drone piece yet introspective with a quietly dismal ambience. It sets the tone for the rest of the album to follow: "Soul Interrupt", like "Waiting ...", lacks a definite machine rhythm but retains a steady repetitive drone. The last track "Dust and Ether" is a bleak whistling summation of the inevitable collapse: the atmosphere is bone-chilling with echoing background noises sounding distant and appearing to come from underground metal bunkers. A lonely melody repeats over and over all the way to the end. Machinery may clank but the impression given is that they are running down and coming to a standstill, puffing their last breath or their gears slowing and grinding down.

This is not a long album but Empire Auriga describe the decay well enough that everything comes over as complete and self-contained. The music isn't very complex and the band relies mainly on repetition and ambience as weapons of choice in creating a world in decline. Enough melody exists in songs like "Time Expanding" and "Dust and Ether" to establish an illusion of direction so that the music maintains listener interest. The repetition stops the music from becoming too bombastic, maudlin or kitschy and adds an inhuman machine quality, though at the same time we're not exactly encouraged to get emotionally involved with what's going on. The overall impression is that social collapse is inevitable and all we can do is to be prepared for it and accept our mostly self-inflicted extinction. "Auriga Dying" does its job efficiently - maybe too efficiently perhaps, it's very unyielding and not the kind of recording you can warm to - and at the end you're challenged to consider whether the world as it is now, with financial crisis spreading all over like a global plague shutting down economies and promising potential chaos, is following the path predicted by the album.

1,000 rad+ - 72%
autothrall, August 19th, 2014
Written based on this version: 2014, CD, Moribund Records
Much like its predecessor Auriga Dying, Ascending the Solar Throne functions far more effectively as an ambient/industrial piece than a metal one; no doubt what the Michigan duo had intended, and yet still clinging to its black metal inspiration in the use of ungodly snarled vocals and walls of heavily effected tremolo picked guitars, or raw, droning chords that take inspiration from the more suicidal, depressive black metal sources. I suppose Empire Auriga belong in the same sphere as acts like I Shalt Become or Austria's Summoning, only the thematic geography of is a long way from the former's varied-by-album concepts and the latter's Middle Earth fixation. Instead, the duo inhabits a sort of metaphysical/cosmic environment in theory, but the music felt a lot to me the ruins of burnt out, blasted industrial cities on distant world where the hostile, native environments have reclaimed the technological defiance of advanced human civilizations... Radiated memories, floating through the now-empty shells like phantoms while fields of radars still reach to neighboring worlds in hopes of a signal...anything.

Sounds pretty cool, right? If you can subordinate yourself to its sense of escapism and sense of 'background' aesthetics to a bright nightmare, then this is certainly an improvement over their debut, but it does still lack somewhat in the personality department. Walls of distorted, heavily affected guitar are used as an atmospheric cloak to the clunking, minimal sense of percussion, as opposed to the riff-centric structures we associate with most black (or other) metal acts. The vocals range from distorted black metal rasps to more wailing, edge-of-perception haunted tones that seem to blend right into the blinding, fiery ambiance of the guitars. There is no tenable bass element to the music beyond some of the deeper drums occasionally resonating off into this or that speaker, but this is not really the sort of style that would benefit from it. No, tunes like "Jubilee Warlord" and "Are You Worthy of Gold?" feel more like you've just awakened from a cryogenic sleep in a post-apocalyptic survival capsule buried on the edge of a desert, and you nearly lose your sense of sight once the airlock doors open and you behold the fiendish radiance of the sun-stroked wastes...

And then "Waste" takes the sense of foreboding even further: dissonant, raw-as-fuck filtered chords giving the impression that this nuclear wanderer is being stocked by mutant scorpions who have yet to finish proving to mankind who is the new king of the food chain. I kept thinking of the film version of Zelazny's Damnation Alley when I listened through this disc, or Fallout 3, rather than the fields of colliding asteroids and glimmering celestial bodies the band might have intended, but I guess you also do get a small whiff of interstellar radio noise being broadcast through the uncaring void. At any rate, if any of the imagery I've painted in this critique tickles your curiosity, and you'd rather have such music crafted in an uncomfortable, repulsive means rather than that of melodious warmth and harmony, then Ascending the Solar Throne is probably worth the time. It's not too heavily industrial, more reliant on the stinging static of its guitar effects than on beats, so just expect something a little more loosely defined, which leaves plenty of terror for your imagination to fill in, rather than incessantly guiding your hand through a standard pop or rock song structure. I have a feeling there is better yet to hear from this pairing, but the sophomore is undoubtedly more effective and troubling than its predecessor and consistently caustic.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com