AURAS (Landfall’s lead vocalist) – New Generation [Japan Edition +1] Out Of Print *EXCLUSIVE*

Hailing from Brazil, and fronted by current Landfall’s lead vocalist Gui Oliver, AURAS was one of the most exciting new acts to hit the AOR scene in the past few years with the release of their debut album ‘‘New Generation” via Frontiers Music.
Including an exclusive bonus track, this Japanese Edition has become a collectors piece as it’s out of print now.
With this album AURAS proved to the world that acts such as Journey, The Storm, Toto and Survivor have found a credible heir scene from South America.

Auras was formed in the beginning of 2007 by singer Gui Oliver and guitarist Ferpa Lacerda. Tired of playing in cover bands and feeling they were musically mature enough, both musicians decided to write some new music.
‘Hungry Hearts’, the first song coming out of this collaboration, was sent out to several producers and musicians around the world, gathering some very warm response.

“New Generation is the result of years of hard work and faith in our music” explains Gui Oliver. “It sounds corny, but it’s really a dream that came true especially for a Brazilian band where this kind of music is not very popular”.
Being a real band, not just a studio project, Auras had their live debut supporting their idols Jeff Scott Soto and Jimi Jamison in Curitiba, Auras’ hometown.

Hearing the band play, Jamison mentioned that Auras songs took him back to the Eighties and reminded him of the great bands of that period.
“Artists like Toto, Journey and Survivor”, tells Gui, “are known worldwide and in Brazil it’s not different: their classic hits are still on the radio. Their music touched me in different ways. It was not only the beautiful and amazing melodies, but their songs also had great lyrics.”

Ferpa also grew up in a musical family and this kind of music was always part of his life: “Definitely melodic rock and AOR in Brazil are not for the masses, but we have a faithful and loyal audience. We received lots of emails of people saying how proud they were of us about the album.”
During the recording process the great jazz-rock drummer Edu Sallum joined the band, and the local studio musicians Matheus Brandon and Hemerson Vieira helped to complete ”New Generation”.

The album was finally mixed and mastered to sonic perfection by Dennis Ward (Pink Cream 69, Sunstorm, Place Vendome, Khymera etc.) and he did a bang-up job of giving the songs a great overall sound and production.
For an album in this style you need as good a production as possible, as this style of highly polished, smooth, pure AOR only flourishes even more so from it!

If you’re a fan of pure AOR, this is an essential buy.
It doesn’t break any boundaries and it smacks of that ’80s sound, especially Journey and even more so The Storm. Is that a bad thing? If you’re looking for something that’ll challenge you or take you off the beaten AOR track, look elsewhere this will definitely disappoint!

Pure AOR fans though will be highly impressed with an album chock full of sing-a-long choruses, soaring harmonies and enchanting melodies. One of the most important things about this record is the quality of the songs on offer: enjoyable and entertaining songs that’ll whisk you back to the summer of ’85.

Opening with a driving guitar part and keyboard riff is “Beauty Of Dreams”, which has a smooth chorus and a killer guitar lick; they couldn’t have opened better than with this summer-fuelled slice of AOR.
The impressive guitar work supplied by Ferpa Lacerda that is all over this album is highlighted with the opening riff to “Forgive & Forget” – it also has a huge hook filled chorus and some stand out keyboard parts that’ll have you punching the air and singing the infectious chorus to all and sundry. This is definitely one for fans of The Storm.

Another great guitar intro opens “Never Give Up” which has an excellent harmonic pre-chorus building up to the bright and breezy chorus – an instant hit. If this song doesn’t make you smile, there is no hope for you – a really great feel good vibe to this tune.
Ballad “In My Arms” has some great guitars and some nice piano work, a real builder with an amazing and memorable chorus. A really smooth, relaxing song which contains some really hauntingly beautiful melodies.

An infectious keyboard part opens the hook-filled “Reach Out”. A big powerful chorus and a slightly darker and heavier track, but still insanely catchy – really cool guitar solo on this one as well!
Title track “New Generation” is a great upbeat song with smooth verses that build up to a real rockin’ chorus, nice use of light and shade to build some really nice melodies and energy – one for the live stage methinks.
“Forever In Your Eyes” is really catchy and brings the guitar work more prominently to the forefront, a great punchy chorus.

The quality of the album doesn’t dip as we hit the tail end as we get the song that started it all “Hungry Hearts” It has a killer melodic chorus, catchy as hell and will have you singing along on first listen. I love the guitar riff on this one, a great little head nodder.
“That’s The Way Love Goes” – anyone for Toto? – An absolutely amazing chorus, lots of hooks, an excellent bright and breezy AOR song taken straight from the Toto handbook of songwriting.

“Keep on Loving You” is also full of hooks, a real sing-a-long chorus, big harmonies, big melodies, total AOR bliss and would be great live too. “Out Of Love” is a midtempo rocker, with some great keys, a catchy smooth melodic chorus – also contains a fantastic melodic guitar solo! Also midpaced, “Love to Survive” is full of big harmonies and a big charming chorus.

With its really ’80 title, Japanese bonus track “Take It To The Limit” does exactly that: takes you back to glorious days of AOR mixing delicate melodies and sweet keys into the mix.

“New Generation” is a fantastic pure AOR album – one of the best from the last two decades – a hook-filled upbeat bright and breezy summery album with some excellent musicianship and a top notch production.
A MUST HAVE for fans like myself who enjoy the traditional sound and sensibilities of the genre.

Ｋ Ｉ Ｎ Ｇ  Ｒ Ｅ Ｃ Ｏ Ｒ Ｄ Ｓ  Ｊ Ａ Ｐ Ａ Ｎ ～ KICP-1459
ニュー・ジェネレーション

01 – Beauty Of Dreams
02 – Forgive And Forget
03 – Never Give Up
04 – In My Arms
05 – Reach Out
06 – New Generation
07 – Forever In Your Eyes
08 – Hungry Hearts
09 – That´s The Way Love Goes
10 – Keep On Loving You
11 – Out Of Love
12 – Love To Survive
JAPAN BONUS TRACK:
13 – Take It To The Limit

Gui Oliver (vocals)
Ferpa Lacerda (guitars)
Matheus Brandon (guitars)
Hemerson Vieira (bass)
Edu Sallum (drums)
with:
Filipe Beyer, Rodrigo Costa (keyboards)
Tiago Brandon, Matheus Brandon (backing vocals)

Out Of Print
www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/KICP-1459