Review by Michael on September 15, 2025.

When I saw the album cover of the new Auro album "Im Schatten Der Bastion" I instantly fell in love with that. Okay, that might have been a little bit hasty because I hadn't heard a single tune from that but that cover…..

Now I have heard the album several times and I still like it. As expected, it isn't an album with ballads, no not even a semi-ballad is here to find. It seems that my perception about album covers is still quite fine. What we can hear on "Im Schatten der Bastion" (which means "In The Shadow Of The Stronghold") is quite fast black metal with a lot of atmospheric elements created with some smooth keyboards here and there.

Stylistically the album, which is the second one by the Bavarians, lies between some harsh German black metal bands like Mavorim or Eisenkult and more atmospheric black metal like German Drudensang or old Emperor or Gehenna. Okay, this is not the biggest miracle if you have a look at the band members who play(ed) in these bands.

Check "Strom Der Verborgenheit" and you will know what I mean. This is a really great black metal song because the keyboards are used very smartly here to create a very mystic atmosphere, just to get some grim outbursts in some parts of the song, too.

Also the other songs are more or less kept in the same way so that the album with a total running time of about 36 minutes is a very entertaining album that doesn't get boring at any point.

One of my personal favorites is "Lux Caeaca". This song is a little bit punkier than the rest and sounds pretty dirty. Like swimming though the castle moat where the toilet is built above the castle tower. The guitars are sawing and the vocals sound very fierce and grim.

"Glanz Des Titanen" – this title also sounds very majestic but the titan isn't really shimmering. This titan is destroying and blood-stained and full of rage. Again the vocals sound really sinister, they are more spit-out than sung here. Songs like these are just what black metal stands for, really amazing stuff.

Another thing that makes out good black metal is the not so good production. On "Im Schatten Der Bastion" we can hear less bass and the music sounds a little bit raw but this is what makes the album that cold and dark. It fits really well to the cover and the music.

Oh, did I say, there is no bass? At the end of "Ausklang – Figura Serpentinata (Im Zenit Der Eklipse)" there is a lot of bass. Here we go disco, straight back to the 80s. Don't know which demon tortured the guys for that (maybe the Disco Stu demon, I had to laugh pretty hard when I heard it for the first time).

So, Stuart Dicothèque says check Auro and dance!

Rating: 8.7 out of 10