Another French band I wish had done more than one short release before splitting up. Auroch is barebones Heavy Metal with a good dose of melody — largely due to the vocal lines — but with some pretty heavy and raw guitar work. The singer reminds me a lot of Klaus Meine (Scorpions), with a high-pitched nasal voice that's a dead-ringer for Meine especially on longer notes. Auroch is a short slab of mid-paced heavy metal that mixes the aforementioned heavy and raw guitars with a discreet bass that borders more on the acoustic style, for an interesting and quite addictive end result. Nothing fancy going on here - this is actually pretty rough in terms of production, but it fits the music very well. A few well-placed solos pop up throughout the EP, seamlessly integrated into the songs and always prompting for an air guitar session — no showing off here, just rocking the night away. Very catchy songs, I've had this EP stuck in my head for several days now to the point where I don't even need to put the music on. Limited to 300 copies back in '85, this is probably not that easy to find. Not an essential, but very well done.