Träumen Von Aurora – Aurora/Luna
Release Date: 19th August 2022
Label: Trollzorn
Pre-Order
Genre: Progressive Blackened Metal, Post-Metal, Melodic Black Metal.
FFO: Svartnad, Deadwood Lake.
Review By: Andy Spoon
Most of this album is going to be presented in the German language, so I knew right off the bat that I was going to have to take a different approach from a reviewer’s standpoint. I feel that it’s important to review the albums from the viewpoint of people who would read reviews from MetalEpidemic.com, or a primarily-English-speaking audience. That’s not something impossible, as we’ve done numerous times. However, these albums have a distinct several parts which rely on the poetry and delivery of spoken or muttered words that, undoubtedly, make up a large part of the dynamics of the holistic release. With that being said, I don’t find it much different than reviewing other cryptic releases from bands like DVAR or Sigur Ros, whose lyrics don’t actually have any reference at all.
With that being said, träumen von aurora have released a double album set to premier on August 19th, 2022 from Trollzorn records. The double album (hereafter referred to as “album” unless noted specifically) is an imaginative frolic through what feels like a repository of half a dozen discreet methods of delivering music. It’s easy to expect a metal band to play within their sphere of influence, but there should be no doubt that träumen von aurora has attempted, if not endeavored to break that mold in a way that others may not have done as often. The band describes Luna as the “winter” portion of the double album, in contrast to the “spring” segment that is offered in Aurora.
My best first nomenclature guess in relation to Luna, the first album in the series, is that it is a “melodic progressive black metal” project. There are long melodies with keyboard string, pads, and piano that give atmosphere to the track between heavier moments that definitely flow somewhere between fully-blackened metal, and even 80s-prog at moments. Synths and rock pianos can bounce back and forth in sone songs, deviating from one style to the other in order to follow which direction the song goes. It’s quite likely to hear the piano and strings on slower parts where the vocals might tend to whisper or repeat phrases, but then blast into heavier pads during alternative parts.
While there is an amalgam of flavors, Luna is remarkably fun and cohesive in a non-cohesive-type of way. It’s hard to mash post-black metal with progressive blackened metal already without confusing the listener. Adding the 80s synth in what seems random places on heavier tracks is an added bonus, as it often starts a dorky smile on my face. It seems fairly evident that träumen von aurora doesn’t really care about following any particular formula on Luna. It’s just often-melodic, heavy, and then curious at moments.
The second album, Aurora, is the band’s ode to the new spring season out of winter, as it is placed second in the track listing to Luna. Frankly, it would be rather stupid if it weren’t, but it bears mentioning. In reading information from the band, the second part of the 90+ minute total offering is far and away more melodic and “positive” in tonality. There are more major chord progressions and resolutions. If I had to place the guitars’ tone, there are parts that are reminiscent of Foo Fighters, even, which brings a wild variation of the tone from Luna, which had a tone that came much closer to the high-gain “Marshall stack” sound that has such a unique voice in metal music.
That is not to say it is not an extreme metal album, as most of the tracks have several segments of traditional death or black metal, bearing growling, gurgling vocals through drummer/bassist/vocalist Alexander Hager’s distinctive technique. Vocals are one part of the album that doesn’t have much of a change, save for a few moments of cleans in early tracks on both albums. In Luna, the clean vocals sounded like a Hard Rock or Nu-Metal track, while they had a distinct Killswitch Engage-y flavor on Aurora in fleeting metalcore resolutions on one track. In true prog fashion, there are several moments of whispered/growl-talk moments in German over layered instruments on “quiet” parts of each song.
Finally, the double album wraps up with one of a couple epic musical tracks that feature harmonious, melodic, and inventive tracks that give the listener a taste of melody with a little bit of the 80s-influenced guitar work that had been so pervasive on the albums. It’s clear that a huge amount of work went into these albums. Otherwise, I don’t think that many bands would have been able to blend this much mixture of tones and styles. Think about it this way, imagine if someone created a band out of that teleportation machine from 1986’s The Fly, starting Jeff Goldblum, that mixed a black metal band with Leprous, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Foo Fighters, and a German dictionary all at once. It’s hard to put one’s finger on what gives träumen von aurora their “sound”, but it’s fairly impressive in its totality. 
(3 / 5)
