The American ambient black metal project AUREOLE is among the most original and transcendental names you can meet in the genre. With its distinctive concept and haunting sound, each album of this offspring of  Markov Soroka carries the atmosphere of his own constructed universe, unfolding a sea of unknown constellations and predatory darkness, to the sound of mesmerizing soundscapes and bell ringing.
AUREOLE’s third full-length work is called „Alunarian Bellmaster“, and again the center of events is the Citadel Alunar. When solar flares strike the Belltower at the right moment, inhabitants of Citadel Alunar can manifest a projected self. Their creation uses the brick and iron of the Citadel as a base. These beings embody the desires of previous occupiers of Alunar and the bell becomes their life source. The Alunarian Bellmaster’s Ghost is one such self. An obsessed craft worker, the ghost is directly linked as one of the builders or maintainers of the Citadel in the long-ago times. The obsessive ringing and resonance of perfection for creating a second Alunar summoned the attention of some in its local-galactic. A never-ending empire of consumption, worshiping a never-ending god. This contact of the Deathless Interlopers led to the ultimate sacrifice of the Bellmaster, one which finally relocates the citadel belltower into a new form, far away from the relentless invaders.
To reveal the story in full splendour, Soroka used over 30 different types of bells, collected and recorded over the years. Its original concept, along with the specific use of instruments and the incorporation of bells in the album, is absolutely captivating and something like it cannot be heard anywhere else in the confines of black metal.
In a stunning musical journey lasting just over an hour, unfolding in a total of nine separate chapters, „Alunarian Bellmaster“ confidently gets under the listener’s skin through expansive ambient atmospheres and creeping cosmic whispers of terrifying alien creatures. In the album, you won’t hear harsh (and any clear) vocals or traditional black metal instrumentals, but you will experience a complete immersion in other dimensions through Markov’s genius compositions, revealing the interplanetary grandeur of the Alunar spaces.
Opening with the intro ‘Solairis Strike [Activation >> Alunar]’, where you’ll hear the eerie call of the Alunar ghost awakening against a background of scraping ambient sounds, synths and tinkling bells of various kinds, the album smoothly floods the space with the album’s second track – “Alunarian Ghosts of Bellmaster’.
Massive in its comprehensiveness,  the song feels like a piece of magic that dissolves into the cosmic dust. Rhythmic and reminiscent of an immersive ritual, the song clearly outlines all those ghosts awakened by the Alunarian Bell, carrying the power of a thousand solar flames. The Bellmaster creates a melody that awakens all the senses and the spirits dance to the rhythm, enchanted by the invisible pull of the Citadel. Inspired, the Master fully immerses himself in this  magic as the  sound of the music coming out of the bell reverberates through the Cosmos.
In the album’s next track, „10,000 Bells Resonate Cosmos Untold,“ the power of the bells increases and unleashes an even more enchanting cosmic horror that mesmerizes with its soaring beauty. The bells ringing in the song, along with atmospheric guitars and spectacular ambient noises, create a whirlwind of emotions digging deep into the listener’s senses.
And while in this song we have the majesty of the Master’s craft, in „Warpstorm [Invasion >> Alunar]“ we witness the introduction of the „other civilization“ who, impressed by the beautiful  bell ringing and grandeur of Alunar, decides to start a war against the Citadel and destroy it to the core.
It’s amazing how through his music Aureole conjured up real pictures in my mind. As the music plays, I can imagine absolutely the whole story as taken from  a film strip, which I think is a really interesting phenomenon.
Unfolding the invasion of the uninvited inhabitants of Alunar and the battle of the inhabitants of the Citadel in the next five tracks of the album, Aureole once again demonstrates its special energy and dominates the hearing with its originality and captivating atmosphere that sends you directly there – among the ruins of Alunar,  under a sonic wall of enchanting soundscapes, vague calls, reverberations, cosmic sounds and piercing bells that make your skin crawl.
With that said, the album is definitely for a specific type of connoisseur of the genre – those who like to float in outer space through music and dissolve into the sound. The average fan is unlikely to like this album because the traditional tremolo and fast drums cannot be heard, but is a complete depiction of distant cosmic voids and requires a special disposition of mind.
The Master’s bell-ringing echoes through space, leaving the listener in a state of weightlessness, guiding them into the unknown astrals of Alunar, drawing them to the Citadel and its magical power. Immersive soundscapes reverberate with their mesmerizing charge and present a thrilling interstellar adventure filled with diverse melodies and haunting cosmic groans. „Alunarian Bellmaster“ is not a music album, but a complete conceptual experience that grabs you right from the start and subtly transports you through territories you’ve never even dreamed of before…

Favorite song:  „Alunarian Ghosts of Bellmaster“

You can listen to a couple of tracks from the album below:

Album: „Alunarian Bellmaster“
Artist: Aureole
Release Date: February 9th, 2024
Label: Lupus Lounge (Prophecy Productions)
Link: http://lnk.spkr.media/bellmaster