Customer Reviews

Zyklus

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This is another excellent black metal album by Germany's Lunar Aurora. Here's what I think you need to know about it:

* It might not be the best starting point for getting into this band.
Unlike later albums like Mond or Andacht, this album takes some time to get into. It's four long tracks of very atmospheric black metal.

* It's a concept album.
I can't read German so I'm just giving my best guess based on the titles. "Zyklus" apparently translates to "cycle," and the song titles translate to "Morning," "Day", "Evening," and "Night." Musically, the album starts out pretty dark and bleak, and gradually builds in intensity and speed until it reaches the last track, which is one of the darkest and most evil-sounding black metal tracks I've heard.

* It uses sound samples to great effect.
Black metal bands adding sound-effects and ambient intros to their albums is certainly not unusual, but Lunar Aurora is one of the few bands that really makes effective use of it to enhance their albums. Each song begins with a minute or two of samples and ambient noise that really sets the mood for each track.

* It's awesome and you should listen to it.
This was actually my introduction to Lunar Aurora and it took awhile for me to appreciate it, but the album definitely grew on me and I'm still not tired of it. Perhaps because it's based less around conventional song structures and more on the total atmospheric effect, it doesn't seem to lose its effectiveness. A very unique but rewarding album.