I experienced a bit of déjà vu when I put this CD on. It reminded me of the first time I heard Linkin Park. I remember being rather impressed with Hybrid Theory when I heard it because the band had taken most of the rudiments of rap-rock and put a palatable pop façade on it. Contrary to popular thought, I still think Hybrid Theory was a great album. But then Linkin Park failed to grow beyond it and their follow up work was more of rehash than an evolution. So in some ways Kaura's EP is what Linkin Park's second album should have been as they take the keystones of the Hybrid Theory sound and go beyond those limits. In this case, into areas of Brit pop vocally and if you can believe it, A Perfect Circle instrumentation mixed with a heavy influx of Finger Eleven before they switch things up and add in a bit of 80s alternative influence passed through a modern alternative prism. It could easily have become a mess but they somehow manage to keep a cohesive consistency in their inconsistency; a rather startling and ballsy move in an age of cookie-cutter artists, but one this band's biggest strengths.
Kaura isn't original in the sense that they are creating something entirely new out of whole cloth, instead their original in willingness to experiment with different well establish sounds without deviating too far from their core. Don't get the wrong impression, they don't take it as far as say Led Zeppelin did with the blues but in the context of today's music this is an intriguing expansion of what most would call numetal into the alternative arena.
Because of the Linkin Park/numetal basics of the first track, some will write these guys off right from the start. But if you can push beyond that, you may find something that appeals to you. This EP contains five songs and if one doesn't do it for you, Kaura are adept at taking different directions with each song, so the next song just might have something you'll like. I recommend listening to this CD backwards order if you have an aversion to numetal.
The bottom line is that Kaura are ready made hit makers but accomplish it with a bit more credibility than most and don't fall into the trap of letting style define or limit them. I will be interested to see how far they stretch the limits with their full-length album. As it stands, Kaura caught my attention with this EP, now they just have to keep it!
