By the Throat (2009) was one of the masterpieces of the past decade: a record that sent shivers down spines, set hairs on end and quickened heart-rates like few others. With the tone, implacable and steadfast, confidently set on “Flex”, a barrage of sharp frequencies, lacerated melodies and clambering metallic rhythms propel its follow-up, “Nolan”, a six-minute barrage that masterfully marries beauteous sonic disfigurement with unwavering caustic noise. These digital gusts feel powerful but illusory, just like the natural phenomenon the album's title refers to.

Like Earth’s own engine firing up, a siren squeals, driving through a swelling mist of murk and summoning a crescendo of elemental fury. That usually happens to me about two-thirds of the way through this album (on the relatively-dull "Sola Fide"). He is less omnivorous here than on By The Throat, which drew on about a dozen genres, but here his limitations – no doubt at least partly down to the circumstances of writing – do nothing to lessen A U R O R A’s impact.Based at London’s 180 Studios, Fact is a multimedia platform championing the global movement of electronic art. Couple this luminosity with Frost’s rededication to the quiet-quiet-extremely-quiet-then-earsplitting Mogwai school of dynamics (he tweeted his admiration for the Glaswegians' 'Christmas Steps' during the album’s final mastering sessions) with his three master percussionists and the end result is a record availing itself of the musical equivalent of economies of scale. There is definitely something of the acid drenched fields of the home counties in the Nineties about much of A U R O R A, perhaps stemming from its cathedral-like sense of space.

Instead, it’s more in keeping with an environment that Frost describes as “in a constant flux of destruction and re-creation”. But even Frost’s cold, iron and calculated world tracks like “The Teeth Behind the Kisses” seep into unfamiliar and uncomfortable quarantine zones. More allusions to luminosity and dance clubs continue in the strobing chemiluminescence of “Diphenyl Oxalate”, named after the material within glowsticks, and at just 1:31 it lives up to its name. Change country: -Select- Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antigua and Barbuda Aruba Australia Austria Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Botswana British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Islands Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Comoros Cook Islands Costa Rica Cyprus Czech Republic Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) Democratic Republic of the Congo Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) Fiji Finland France Gabon Republic Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Ireland Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kenya Kiribati Kuwait Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Madagascar Malawi Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia Moldova Monaco Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norway Oman Palau Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Republic of Croatia Republic of the Congo Romania Rwanda Saint Helena Saint Kitts-Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and the Grenadines San Marino Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Korea Spain Sri Lanka Suriname Swaziland Switzerland Taiwan Tanzania Thailand Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States Uruguay Vanuatu Vatican City State Vietnam Virgin Islands (U.Electronic music doesn't get much heavier than "Secant," which heaves à la Southern sludge metal, snarling and buzzing as it pulls apart fragments of piano. No, I will not get all artsy about A U R O R A, but the bubbling surface of images and sinister ideas that comes to the brain while something like "Secant" or "Sola Fide" is on is so very frightful.

There's a cello that plays really low-volume in the third-to-last song and it sounds like it's dissonant! Performed by Ben Frost with Greg Fox, Shahzad Ismaily and Thor Harris and largely written in Eastern DR Congo, 'A U R O R A' aims directly, through it's monolithic construction, at blinding luminescent alchemy; not with benign heavenly beauty but through decimating magnetic force. Much of Aurora was composed while Frost was in the Democratic Republic of Congo, collaborating on a film reflecting the region’s notorious violence. This bleeds into “Nolan”, a track that would fit easily on Tim Hecker’s Harmony in Ultraviolet, featuring a percussive thump—sticks rattling, synthesizers lapping.While it may all be doom and gloom there has always been a balance between the cathartic, obliterating walls of sound and the chilling, dark ambient textures; that still remains on new full-length A U R O R A but something of the cohesion has been lost. Secant” starts off in the same word as “No Sorrowing” with the first two and a half minutes composed of wisps of sound. Pitchfork may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. Then a roaring crescendo from the nothing comes in and immolates the song into molten gothic horror.