Showing posts with label Lunar Aurora. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lunar Aurora. Show all posts

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Lunar Aurora - Hoagascht (2012)






Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal
Quality: mp3 280KBPS VBR
About: Here is the long awaited new album from my favorite band, and kings of german black metal. Before I even start I want to say that this is not actually Lunar Aurora, but a Trist album with the singer of Lunar Aurora on guest vocals. See below line ups from their official website.

"Andacht" (recorded 2006)
Andacht (Cover)
Aran: Guitars, Voice
Sindar: Keyboards, Bass-guitar, Voice, Programming
Skoarth: Guitars

"Hoagascht" (recorded 2011)
Hoagascht (Cover)
  1. Im Gartn
  2. Nachteule
  3. Sterna
  4. Beagliachda
  5. Håbergoaß
  6. Wedaleichtn
  7. Geisterwoid
  8. Reng
Aran: Guitars, Voice, Keyboards, Bass-guitar, Programming
Whyrhd: Voice
Recorded: September 2011
Format: CD, Digipak CD, 12" LP
Label: Cold Dimensions


Though, What i describe as the "true" lineup of Lunar Aurora has not been seen since 2005.

"Mond" (2005)
Mond (Cover)
Aran: Guitars, Voice
Whyrhd: Guitars, Voice
Sindar: Keyboards, Bass-guitar, Voice
Profanatitas: Drums



Anyway...
If you are expecting an "Andacht 2" you will certainly not find it here. This album is self-described by the band as stylistically falling somewhere between Elixir of Sorrow (2001) and Zyklus (2002). A more experimental and atmospheric album, with some ambient sections, but not overriden by them.

"Sterna" is the first legitimate black metal ballad I've heard. "Beagliachda" has a recurring keyboard solo. The title track "Håbergoaß" (note that this album is sung in a different dialect of German) is the only song reminiscent of pre-2001 Lunar Aurora, with a driving beat. The first time I heard "Geisterwoid" I thought the album had ended and I had gone to an early demo - It's raw and brilliant. "Reng" is the best closer of any Lunar Aurora album.

Definitely this is a grower album. The first time I listened, I thought it was a joke. Now it's my 100th listen and I'm absolutely hooked. This is not a Lunar Aurora album, this is not a Trist album, this is a beast all of it's own.


Mediafire Download

Please support the musicians that spent so much time, effort, and money to make this great music for you - Buy their albums and go to their concerts (if possible)!
Buy (Unfortunately a somewhat dated website... go there, click "English" at the top, then search by "Lunar Aurora". The vinyl cost 30USD including shipping which took about 2 weeks. So worth it.)

Monday, January 25, 2010

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!

Saturday, January 23, 2010

A Metal Hurricane, Vol. 1 (A compilation of some of my favorite songs)



Genre: See each song description... Mostly Hard Rock/Heavy Metal though.
Run-Time: 01:13:53.
About: Ever wondered what my favorite songs are? No? Well **** you! Here they are anyway, well some of them. Consider it a taste of my taste in music. I'm quite open minded (and you should be too! :D) so it varies between genres. So... the title of the compilation is a bit misleading, but oh well. I'll write a little shpiel about each one too. And I hope you like my amazing MS paint talent, I spent at least 5 minutes on that.

1. Lunar Aurora - Black Aureole. I hesitated to put a raw black metal as track one because it will probably tun away the 1 person that was semi-interested in downloading this. But in my view this is just the most perfect song I have ever heard. Great keyboard intro accompanied by an equal length ambient outro, and the pacing of the song just seems perfect. The ambient interludes come at a time that feels appropriate for the song, and then my favorite part is at about 1:45 where the drum fades in and intensifies and then the song explodes with that epic melodic black riff. And in case you don't know, Aureole simply means a ring, like if there is hazy and you see a ring of light around the sun... or a ring of light around a buddha's head... but in this case it is of course Black, not yellow.

2. Mr. Big - Shine. My favorite ballad of all time (Kicks "To Be With You"'s @ss, btw), and a good juxtaposition to the previous song. It's just so beautiful and light while at the same time still feeling like a hard rock song. Richie Kotzen's songwriting really shines (hah, unintentional pun).

3. Mägo de Oz - La Voz Dormida.
To this date, still my favorite Power Metal song. From the get-go, your face is melted off with Heavy and intense Power, and it just does not let up for 10 minutes. The main melody/chorus is just so awesome, and the duet with that chick from Nexx (massively underrated Spanish melodic rock band, check them out here). And of course, I cannot put into words the epic four minute solo. YES FOUR MINUTES.

4. Saint Deamon - Pandeamonium. Time for another ballad. If you don't know, I am a sucker for ballads, and I have been collecting them in a playlist for a potential future compilation on here. Anyway, this is a unique song in that it a driving hard-rock type beat. But it has the long held guitar chords like a ballad. Then, the song skips a beat and you are thrown into this melodic chorus with powerful lyrics. I have high regard for this vocalist too, he has a nice grit to his voice, but he can hit the high notes with the best of them.

5. Big L - Married To Marijuana. This isn't even a song from an album, it's a mix created posthumously by a DJ (information here), with passages by the rapper and new beats/music.
I just had to put this in here, because he is one of the greatest rappers that ever lived and he is so underrated. But what makes it unique and what really grabs me is the background music. There is this aggressive angry rapping in the foreground, but in the background is an acoustic guitar, then for the other part there is an indian-sounding melody. Eh... if you don't like it just delete it, but I love it so it's here.

6. Rhapsody of Fire - Power Of The Dragonflame. Well, this is my favorite album from them because it is so agressive. While at the same time each song has a nice melody at the chorus, even if the verses are just screaming or gritty vocals (which Fabio Lione does quite well, actually). Then there is this chorus. Epic epicness of epic proportions. It makes me want to get on a horse with a sword and slice through a field full of monsters. Or go on a Viking ship and get drunk then set a town on fire. Or... well you get the idea.

7. Angra - Paradise. I don't know what is wrong with people, because Fireworks (1998) is their least popular album on last.fm. But if you have two functioning ears on your head, you will hear that every song on this album is a gem. There is just this happy yet somewhat melancholic atmosphere created with the songs on this album. It makes me reflect to "the good old days" and be happy I had them but sad because I miss them. Every song on this album is so solid in fact, that I am still typing just to stall for time because I cannot pick a favorite. You got the Cheese Metal songs like Wings of Reality and Metal Icarus, the more Progressive songs like Fireworks and Speed, then a Pop-like Rainy Nights, and the intense Paradise. Yes, I'll pick that last one, it really captures the atmosphere I feel this album has and the feelings it brings out of me.

8. Rapture - The Past Nightmares. Hell, why not roll with that feeling, since I am building this album from scratch and I am having a lot of difficulty widdling down all the songs I like to an album-length... the melancholic feeling that I love because it makes me think. This song is about witnessing a murder and fighting with the emotions that caused in the daytime and the nightmares keeping you awake at night. This song is just amazing, doom metal but there's a rather fast beat, and then no beat perhaps to simulate the mental torment. The lyrics are equally cryptic yet make just enough sense to make you think... And simply the best death vocals I have ever heard in any song, from about 2:30-3:00.

9. Tarja Turunen - The Reign. This is a really dark and sad yet beautiful song and gives me emotions that I can't even describe. So I won't.

10. HeimatAerde - Dark Dance (Medievalfloor). Another band I just had to put in because I like them so much. Another band it was really hard to pick just one song from. Another dark-themed song (obviously), starts with a midieval melody, and then breaks into music you might here at a German Rave and this music always just makes me want to do the robot.

11. Summoning - South Away. Summoning is quite simply the most epic band you will ever hear. I dare you to find me a more epic band (because I'd really like to hear it too). Again, really difficult to pick just one song, but my favorite albums come from the middle of their career (which you can get here). Earlier albums are a bit too rough and unstructured, later albums they are obviously completely full of themselves, releasing million dollar songs with full orchestras and 10 minute intros and not bothering to even keep fans updated on the new album they haven't been working on for the past 5 years... eh. Seriously, I don't get it. Some new artists can put out an album every year, even two in one year (as this band did in 1995), and be consistently good. But then once they get some money under their belt, they just do not give a crap. Play 5 stadium shows a year, same setlists every year, work on an album when they feel like it and don't care enough to put their heart in it... /rant. So I picked this song because it's so epic yet raw and agressive, and best suicide vocals I've heard, in this chorus. Very close second - "Where Hope And Daylight Die" from Stronghold, with the haunting female vocals by the Die Verbannten Kinder Evas singer.

12. Place Vendome - Follow Me. Time for happy music! Had to include something from my favorite clean singer (no screaming or gritty vocals... in fact in a 25 year career he hasn't once). This is a melodic rock band, this song is actually pretty hard, which I like. And of course, the vocals are just godly. The cover of this album really symbolizes the music well (An eagle in the foreground flying away from burning grecian syle pillars on the edge of a lake).

13. Herra Ylppö & Ihmiset - Sata Vuotta. This is an interesting one. When you take a step back and look at it, it's fairly straightforward melodic/hard rock. But it's just done so dam* well. The singer is clean here, but he can really growl if he wants (and does on other tracks in this album). The vocals just float over the melodies of the music, there's a driving beat, and it's just plain uplifting. Unfortunately, this album was somewhat of a one-off collaboration, but I do hope they get back together soon.

14. Dexter Freebish - Ghosts (2009 re-record). This is my favorite alt rock band, I first found out about them from Tiger Woods 2004, with this song. It's a really nice driving rock song with inspirational lyrics.

15. Freedom Call - Freedom Call. Figured I'd end this off with a classic. From their 2001 album "Crystal Empire", this band has been a big influence in the genre of Power Metal. Definitely a big influence on me as well, as whenever I need a smile on my face I just listen to this Happy Cheese Metal. I randomly found them... probably about 2001, with some songs on Limewire (back when that was "the thing" to do) that were mistagged as Rhapsody. Asked on a forum and discovered Freedom Call.

Well, I can only hope that if you read this far, or even just skipped it all to see the bottom line, that you can find a song you like that you never would have tried otherwise. Or you can leave now and keep being close minded. I definitely had fun making this as I have not heard some of these songs in a long time, and I love them so much. Even if no one downloads this, I have a nice playlist now and I will very likely have more of these in the future. Completely coincidentally (well I was aiming for it but I didn't think I'd get so close), this came out to almost exactly on the 74 minute mark, the standard for CDs. So you could burn it on a CD if you like. Cheers!

Mediafire Download - part 1
Mediafire Download - part 2

Oh man, this guy is grim. He would love my album.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Suicide Solution, Vol. 1 - A collection of suicidal, depressive, and atmospheric black metal.



Genre: Suicidal, Depressive, Atmospheric. Mostly Black Metal with a few exceptions (noted below)
About: Depressive music, for me, is the soundtrack for particularly frostbitten days. Be it the weather, or things that happen to me, or who knows what. I am a believer that you need music that resonates with any mood you may have. If you are angry, you want some death metal, if you want to punch someones face in, you want hardcore... if you are feeling the frost climb up your back, you want this.

I truly do not understand why bands that perform this style of music are not popular worldwide. Especially in the US. Depression is practically an epidemic here, and if this music was prevelent, maybe we could cut down on that? And, even if you are not depressed, it is just great music once you tune your brain to it.

This is not my favorite genre, but I have listened to quite a lot and am familiar with enough bands to consider this a decent collection. I have included what i consider the "essentials", and also some unknown bands, some of which I discovered just now. If you have never listened to these genres, this would be a good "Starter Pack" for you. If you have, maybe there's a few in here you don't know and would like to hear?

I may do more volumes... This one is a starter pack, and includes some non-"suicidal" songs but they give off the same general feeling... further volumes would likely be strictly bands classified as "suicidal". By the way, the album name is the name of a Ozzy Osbourne song... not a big fan of the song, but the title seemed appropriate ("Centre of Eternity" is awesome though, as well as most of his big hits). Anyway, hope at least one person stumbles across this and enjoys it! I'm more likely to make more if i get a comment..

So... It took a while to find/remember the bands i wanted, but it is epic. Also, epically long, it came out to the completely arbitrary number 31 tracks, and nearly 4 hours. But it's a pretty awesome playlist IMO. (Apoligies for the volume equalization issues. Seems demos are very quiet.) Hope you enjoy :)


Track List:
1. Sad Legend - Searching for the Hope in Utter Darkness...
2. Xasthur - Cursed Be The Memory Of Light (Old Xasthur >>>> new Xasthur)
3. Desire - Funeral Doomentia
4. Daemonolatreia - Misanthropic Symbol Of Infernal Abyss
5. Lunar Aurora - Der Morgen (This album was a big departure from their previous and subsequent work, but i love it just the same, possibly more.)
6. Deep-pression - Pain... Is Everywhere...
7. Oathean - The Last Elegy for My Sad Soul
8. Dead Raven Choir - A Rosebud In June (officially "dark folk"... this is some neat stuff)
9. Drudkh - Glare Of Autumn (Not "depressive" but it has a dark melancholic feeling)
10. Life is Pain - Oppressive Nights in Mental Asylum
11. Life is Pain - Bloody Melancholy (brilliant ambiance, reminds me of Burzum - Rundgang um die transzendentale Säule der Singularität)
12. Sad Legend - Nocturnal Cries Of Agony (this song got me into depressive black metal)
13. Anti - Invocation
14. Nyktalgia - Cold Void
15. Daemonolatreia - One More Soul For Satan (makeshift Interlude... quite creepy)
16. Lurker Of Chalice - Piercing Where They Might (best atmosphere/droning in any song ever)
17. Sad - Mass Annihilation (no relation to Sad Legend)
18. Darkspace - Dark 3.12 (Part of a massive story spanning 3 albums and one demo. Last i checked they can all be downloaded for free from their website)
19. Defaillance - Oublie De Tous
20. Leviathan - Sacred Scars (Warning: face-melting is likely)
21. Make A Change... Kill Yourself - Fooling the Weak (Xasthur side project... better (than more recent xasthur at least))
22. Oathean - River of Sadness
23. Secretly In Pain - Le Chemin
24. Corpus Christii - Heavenless Bliss (again, technically not depressive but it has a nice feeling)
25. Be Persecuted - Revolves Weakly Falls (rawer than raw)
26. Rapture - To Forget (Technically doom, but nice feeling)
27. Anti - Mourning Soul
28. Alcest - Elevation (This Black Metal artist now does Shoegaze. I don't know why, because this song is f'ing brilliant! Again, not sure how "depressive" it is but i like the atmosphere)
29. Desire - (Love Is) Suicide (The past 3 hours were just foreplay for this song. Seriously, this song is orgasm.)
30. Wormphlegm - Epejumalat Monet Tesse Muinen Palveltin Lauran Ja Lesse (30 minute epic DSBM masterpiece. 30 minutes flies by, then i want more.)
31. Corpus Christii - All Hail... (Master Satan) (for the lulz. Heh, seemed appropriate to match my interlude. Good sing-a-long tune (for small children :3 ))

(1/9/2011 - Part 3 was broken, this is a re-upload of two 200-mb files instead of four 100mb files!)
Download pt 1
Download pt 2

Monday, March 30, 2009

Trist - Willenskraft (2009) (320 kbps) (Trist (Ger) - Willenskraft)




Genre: Black Metal, Dark Ambient, Ambient, Atmospheric Black Metal
About: Willenskraft means "Willpower". I thought Hin-Fort was a masterpiece but somehow he has 1-upped himself. The main difference is while Hin was just an ever-growing wall of sound, this album is all about dynamics. Track 1 is very minimalist while track 2 slams you in the face with this loud fast black metal. And so on. This album is pure genius, I will be listening to it obsessively.

Track 1 is 12 minutes long and fairly minimalist. It sounds as if you are laying on the edge of the water on an ocean beach letting the waves crash over you, as you hear them move from the right speaker to the left. Then gradually You hear these noises which I perceived as Whale/Dolphin calls.

Track 2 then introduces what sounds like either some kind of Troll or someone being tortured but 4 minutes in, fades into this epic black metal riff that I cannot even describe and a nice drum beat. As with Hin-Fort the album slowly changes to create this just great atmosphere.

Track 3 is then more waves crashing, but then instead of the whale-type noises you hear a gradually changing ominous sounding low ambiance.

Track 4 was also a highlight as It starts with this menacing low piano (which comes out of nowhere and is 3 times as loud as the ambiance, great surprise) but then once again a fast beat and epic black guitar riff. The screaming is actually quite fitting, the same screaming as in track 2 but it sounds great. I made out a few words but I'm pretty sure most of it is just screams with no lyrics. Very nice black screams.

Then in track 5 a gun fight breaks out, actually reminds me of the beginning of "One" from Metallica.

Then track 6 you'd think is going to be an ambient outro. But then it fades into another fast black metal part with screams. The difference here is there's kind of a keyboard ambient behind it which is actually a light flowing beautiful melody.

Pretty sure he drew this cover himself as I got it from his official website: http://www.sperber-illustrationen.de/gallery.html

Download

Monday, October 20, 2008

Lunar Aurora - Andacht (2007) (260 kbps)




Genre: black metal, atmospheric black metal, speed metal
About: Their latest (and possibly last - they are on hiatus) effort displays a much more developed sound than previous efforts... Less about slamming you in the face with speedy blast beats for a solid hour, there's more tempo variation, more melody, more atmosphere, the production is better, it's just a more developed sound in every way possible. However tracks such as track 5 are closer to speed metal than anything else. Looking forward to future releases, but in the meantime we have this to enjoy.

Download pt 1
Download pt 2

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Lunar Aurora - Ars Moriendi (Improved Version / Revised Re-release Version)




Genre: (Black Metal), (Speed Metal)
About: The original was recorded in 2001, but a new guitar line was added in 2004. This is a very fast paced black metal album, with interesting melodies and speedy blast beats the entire way through. You will love it.

Year: 2004
Download 2004 edition

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