Lunar Aurora - Mond

"[Mond] is the kind of epic black metal that defies your expectations. Such an epithet might bring to mind the cheesier side of black(ish) metal, but Lunar Aurora steer well clear of any of that. They are a cold and aggressive black metal band, and just happen to have a solemnly epic side that complements a number of passages really well. Despite the quick pace, much of Lunar Aurora's sound has a depressive undercurrent, which is helped by the smart keyboard effects -- "Rastlos" is one such track, blasting ahead with a celestial majesty that brings to mind early Emperor. As the Emperor reference might indicate, the band are also able to conjure some stirring crescendos, keeping things interesting in spite of the considerable overall length. Mond is neither underproduced nor particularly technical; it strikes a very good balance as far as clarity of sound and songwriting, and the result is heavy on atmosphere without having to resort to ambient passages.

Lunar Aurora have created a fine album, one that harvests much of what was so good about mid to late '90s black metal without sounding unoriginal or rehashed; indeed at times it refines some of those elements. This isn't to say that each and every passage in the album is brilliant, but there is some excellent material here and the standards are kept high throughout."- Chronicles Of Chaos

Mond 2005 Tracklisting 1. Groll 00:58 2. Aufgewacht 07:04 3. Rastlos 06:15 4. Schwarze Winde 09:08 5. Heimkehr 08:18 6. Welk 04:49 7. Grimm 10:10 Total playing time 46:42

With Mond, Lunar Aurora delivers us a very strong black metal album. With a name like theirs, and with a previously released split with Paysage d'Hiver, I expected to hear something along the lines of Darkspace - a spacey, ambient-like band. I couldn't have been more wrong. These guys play some very intense black metal. While it's mainly played at fast-pounding, neck-breaking speeds, there are often moments when the music comes to a halt, moves at slow speeds, making the room the listener's in fill up with tension before blowing back up in his face. Their music is not spacey, but in fact is very dark and depressing. Indeed, one of the band's highlights are their lyrics. I'm no German speaker, but from what I gather their lyrics are written very well. They fit very well with the music, too. They express a very cynic self, one who has realized their position in an enslaved world and who sees society falling apart before him.

The use of keyboards is typically done very tastefully, besides in the fifth song where it seems rather overdone. By far the best song of this album is Schwartz Winde. The second, third, and seventh song stand out as well. Indeed, there's a really interesting melody played in the last song at an odd time signature.

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