Lunar Aurora - Seelenfeuer (1998)

Genre: Black Metal. Almost tempted to call it progressive, avant-garde or experimental, but see description for the details.
About: Lunar Aurora is a really underground band to begin with... but within that community, there is a schism (wow, love that word but haven't used it since about 9th grade) between the people who like the older music, the newer music, and both. I tend to fall into the newer music community... Andacht, Mond, and Zyklus are just perfect atmospheric black metal masterpieces. And Ars Moriendi is one of my top 10 favorite albums of all time for sure. But, ever since I first listened to Seelenfeuer in it's entirety on December 30th, 2009 I've been wanting to upload it here. Why? Normally, in any song, in any genre, even black metal, they stick with the most easily recognizable structure- 3 verses which are all different, and the same chorus in the middle, normally with a solo between the second verse and the chorus. But trying to find a definite structure this album is just like beating a dead horse with a stick. You will not get anything out of trying to find its structure.

Yet... there are still recognizable themes throughout a song so i hesitate to call it something like experimental or avant garde, and even riffs from early in the album that sound the same as later in the album. I love it because I, personally, love albums with coherence of sound, you can tell they were just in the studio from beginnning to end of this album and in response to that it is not just an album with great songs, it is an album that is great as an album, that you can listen to from start to finish quite easily because it just draws you into it's world and keeps you there.

I choose not to do a song-by song review because I want you to experience it for yourself... but it culminates in the face-obliterating epic "Kerker Aus Zeit". The main difference of older Lunar Aurora songs from newer ones, is that they do not have the ambient intros (sometimes between 2 and 5 minutes). What results from this is you just are instantly drawn into the song with whatever riff they throw at you on that song... this one being particularly epic, but after the intro riff you are just taken to another world for like 13 minutes before finally getting back to the riff. The keyboard stands out in this album because it is used as ambiance most of the time, but when it is used as a riff (such as in this song), it is just perfect.

So overall, I just love the feeling of insanity this album produces with its seemingly random tempo changes, riff changes, and I really have to applaud the drummer for this album because with crappy drumming, this album would have been pure garbage that is impossible to keep interested in because it changes so much........

...........within all this, though, you find a coherent theme and feeling, and it is unique to any listener, so go find it...

Mediafire Download

SIDE-NOTE: If anyone finds an in-stock T-shirt (second image at the top)(pretty sure this is the only Lunar Aurora shirt ever made, but if there is another shirt, that's great too) I would probably give a kidney for it, so send me a link!