AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: THE ZEPHYR — “AURA OSCURA”

As many of you already know, The Zephyr is a Mexican black/death metal band with a history that now spans 30 years. Like many bands of a similar lineage, this one was interrupted by a long period of silence, which occurred after their 2003 debut album Fake Measured Smile, a silence broken by the 2013 EP The Hate Remains the Same and The Zephyr‘s 2017 album Eternal Flames of Heaven.

Also like other bands whose roots are as deep as The Zephyr‘s, they’ve experienced lineup changes along the way, including one that occurred during the six-year gap between that last album and the new one.

And yes, The Zephyr now have a fourth full-length on the way. Entitled Aura Oscura, it’s projected for release in January by American Line Productions, and what we have for you today is the premiere of a lyric video for its title track, one that fully displays, even after all this time, a band at the height of their veteran songwriting prowess and performance skills.

“Aura Oscura” (the song) provides an unusually wide range of styles, sensations, and moods, while shrouding all of them in an occult atmosphere. Lightning flashes in the video, and the music strikes in electrifying fashion as well, with rumbling double-kicks and full-throttle blasting, brazen slashing chords and dervish-like tremolo’d frenzies, and fanatical vocal tirades.

But the music also has an exotic and esoteric flair, which is displayed both by the riveting percussion work that opens the song, the swirling, gleaming, and darting guitar melodies, and a startling mid-song digression in which an acoustic guitar mysteriously rings beneath what might be the wail of an angel and diabolical spoken words. At the summit of that phase, the music menacingly soars and ecstatically swirls, leading into a magical guitar solo.

The vocals are also varied, with the main line carried in barbaric snarls and screams, and then accented by near-singing chants and abyssal growls.

On top of all that, the song delivers lots of swift jolts and also descends into episodes of grim, moaning bleakness. The drumming is a constantly gripping presence, just as varied as everything else (and you’ll notice a vivid cymbal-crack that seizes attention every time it’s struck), and the production strikes a powerful balance between clarity, harshness, and heft.

Well, enough with our attempt to describe this head-spinning experience. Time for you to experience it directly:

Recording Line Up
César Caro: Guitar/vox
Michek Estevez: Guitar
Victor Varas: Bass
Alejandro Angeles: Drums
Music & Lyrics: Caro

We’re leaving you lots of links to help keep abreast of further news as we approach the new album’s release near the start of 2024.

Below, we’re also including a lyric video for the first song released from the new album — “The Invisible Light” — another diabolically extravagant and musically dynamic experience which proves that today’s song is no outlier. This one too has its own mesmerizing interlude, and yet another magnificent guitar solo, in addition to hard-hitting power, emotionally affecting melodies, savage vocals, and a haunting finale.

THE ZEPHYR Contacts:
https://thezephyr.bandcamp.com/releases
https://www.facebook.com/thezephyrmetalwarriors