June 2023 - Feature Release - The North Edition

Another month flies by, which means it's time to select a new feature release for The North. As it's my turn to choose, I've selected Lunar Aurora's Andacht album from 2007. With a seemingly infinite amount of new metal releases every year, it's increasingly difficult for albums to capture and keep my attention for years on end. Andacht is an album I listen to quite regularly, and have been since it came out 16 years ago. It's not a perfect album, but there's just something about it that really grabs me and just hasn't let go. The band has many other great releases, so I hope making this a feature for the month can gain the band at least one more fan.

It would be great to read what you all think of it either below or in review format.

https://metal.academy/releases/6769

Here's my review:

I've had a lengthy relationship with German black metallers Lunar Aurora after first discovering their first two studio albums through the tape trading scene in the mid-1990's, both of which I quite liked without ever being tempted to claim them as essential. I wouldn't return to Lunar Aurora for more than a decade after that, finally catching up with them again with 2007's "Andacht" around 2009 & being suitably impressed with the improvements Lunar Aurora had made to their sound over the years. "Andacht" sees Lunar Aurora reaching somewhat of a peak in their quest to create a more atmospheric soundscape than I remember from their early works with the use of keyboards being prominent but not overused. The use of drum programming is noticeable but fairly well executed & certainly not intrusive. The more aggressive moments are the most enjoyable for me personally which is hardly surprising. There are a few sections where the band move in a direction that kinda resembles folk metal without actually using those cheesy folk melodies & they represent the weak points of the album. Some of the more keyboard-heavy sections can sound a touch overblown too & (as is often the case with me) the most popular song on the record "Findling" is also the one that I find the least appeal in. Regardless of that, the majority of the six tracks are very strong examples of the atmospheric black metal subgenre in what is a very consistent album that will no doubt offer strong appeal for fans of Paysage d'Hiver, Nagelfar or The Ruins of Beverast.

4/5

Initially this did not grab my attention as much as I hoped it would. The first couple of tracks just sort of washed over me with the liturgical singing of the opener sounding merely gimmicky rather than fundamental to the track. Now I don't know if this was because I went into it in the wrong frame of mind, but as the album proceeded I found myself getting more and more into it and on subsequent listens those earlier tracks chime a lot better with me. One thing that is absolutely certain, however, is that these guys have a real ear for a good melody. Most of the six tracks feature at least one hooky melody that endows each of them with a degree of memorability. Less-skilled atmo-black practitioners may release albums where the tracks all merge into one and that are largely forgettable, or rather just don't have much onto which the listener can grab and find a way in, but these melodic hooks offer an easy way into all the six tracks present on Andacht.

Whilst being in the main blisteringly fast and pummelling black metal, there is more than enough going on around it to provide plenty of variety and depth. Taking the opener, Glück, as an example, the tremolo riffing is light-speed fast and the drums are programmed for maximum blasting, but those chanting vocals and a nice acoustic guitar melody during a section of relative calm make such an impact that they stick with you and pull you into the blasting maelstrom that surrounds them. Most of the tracks are well-constructed and display some development during their runtime, but it is the melodies that ultimately keep calling me back to this as they add a soaring beauty to what may otherwise have been a fairly ordinary atmospheric black metal album.

The vocals are decent enough black metal shrieks and growls, with those chanted cleans interjecting occasionally. As I mentioned, the drums are programmed and they don't sound too bad, although it is fairly obvious that they aren't a live drummer. The production is crisp and clear, so the subtleties of the album are easy to pick up on throughout. All in all I would say that this is a creditable effort that maintains the vicious savagery of black metal, whilst tempering it with a melodicism that makes it more accessible than is often the case and which adds a different dynamic to the whole.

I am kinda struggling between awarding a 3.5 or a 4, but those mournful-sounding keys on Dunkler Mann that sound like a violin have won me over and swayed my score upwards.

4/5

I hit a challenge early on with Andacht. That clean singing on opening track Glück is awful and whilst I accept it adds some ethereal depth to the track it is (to coin Sonny’s phrase from his review) “gimmicky” and far too much so for me. Despite repeated listening to it and acknowledgement that there is a lot more interesting stuff going on than just those vocals, they are still all that I retain from the opening track.

The album does pick up more or less immediately after this though and the true dismal majesty of Lunar Aurora’s brand of atmo-black shines grimly through on Geisterschiff much better than it did on the opening eleven minutes of the record. Here is where the Paysage d’Hiver similarities really start to take hold for me with those cold windy atmospherics that close out the track. The strongest track from the opening half of the release though is Dunkler Mann. Reminiscent of the more straightforward traits of Darkspace with a hint of the earthy symphonia of Sear Bliss for good measure.

Some of the samples seem to veer the album off into a BAN style of experimentation without ever getting into the avant-garde and industrial territories you would associate with the French bm mentalists. In the main though, it is clear that Lunar Aurora knew their talents lay in the more atmospheric aspects of black metal and it is to this strength that Andacht leans upon heavily. Using programmed drums works in the sense that they are kept subtle enough in proceedings to never even be given opportunity to intrude on the softer aspect of the sound. Instead, you can focus on the tremolo riffs and chiming keys of the trio that recorded this. The lunatic vocals that are deployed give me the perfect amount of chaos that I need for the all-round authentic bm experience.

It is not difficult to get lost in the driving intensity of tracks like Findling as they grow in depth over nine-minutes plus. Likewise, it is often the simplicity of basic structures such as the opening 90 seconds of Der Pakt that command just as much attention. The closing track seems to take the levels of vocal lunacy up a couple of notches to finalise proceedings and the whole track possesses a seemingly enhanced energy level that rounds out an overall positive experience.

4/5