Australia's The Church have always been somewhat of an enigma in the pop world, and with all their brushes with fame, they've steered straight on their own course to make the music that they choose to play. Priest Aura is their eighth such adventure (with countless solo and side projects making their prolificacy that much more astounding), and what has flowed out this time is a sound that is somber and very subtle (not to be confused with subdued). Steve Kilbey, Marty Willson-Piper, Peter Koppes and new drummer Jay Dee Daugherty combine dissonance and beauty in a way that only this gifted song-writing team can. They melt these contrasting sounds together until the music speaks for itself, creating the adjectives used for the song titles to describe the feelings and impressions that emanate from the music. The melodies remain the strong point, and as these tunes slowly seep in, you find more marvel lurking around each corner. Worship: "Ripple," "The Disillusionist," "Aura," "Feel" and the epic "Chaos," in which "Tomorrow Never Knows" meets "Strawberry Fields Forever."

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