Galt Aureus is an American rock duo formed in 2005. The group consists of Saher (vocals, keyboard) and Susan (vocals, guitar). As an independent band, they have risen to prominence through a popular YouTube channel and word of mouth rather than through mainstream channels (major label distribution and mass media). Galt Aureus' second full-length album, Citadels (released in 2009), reportedly reached the top ten on the Lala.com most listened albums chart and has received praise from music bloggers who note the album for its ambitious arrangements, often "layered", "complex" and orchestral in nature, and for having been recorded, mixed and mastered entirely by Galt Aureus. Galt Aureus' YouTube channel was amongst the top 100 subscribed channels of all time. Galt Aureus has been described as "powerful", "epic", "imaginative" alternative rock music by reviewers; stylistically, "they (Galt Aureus) fuse the best of many genres -- the clear precision of classicism, the passion of romanticism, and the intransigent heartbeart of the best of rock." The group cites the master composers (Beethoven, Chopin, Mahler, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff) amongst their primary influences. In accounting for the apparent reference to classical music, particularly of the romantic era, Saher recalls, "I fell in love with Chopin and Beethoven very early on...what I do is informed much more by my favorite composers than any rock band." However, modern artists such as AFI, Bright Eyes, Opeth, The Mars Volta and The Smashing Pumpkins do appear on Galt Aureus' assorted social networking websites as influences. Galt Aureus has a distinctive lyrical style that is described as "grand", "elegant" and Saher points to the following authors as influential in his literary style: Ayn Rand, Oscar Wilde, Alexandre Dumas, père, Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner.