“A thrillingly unrestrained approach to black metal composition… veering between wildly varying ideas with abandon, dragging druggy psychedelia, raw black metal tape hiss, occult ritualism, and jarring microtonality into a sound that somehow coheres."
“JUNON dismantle and reassemble black metal into a mad and seductive listening experience.”
"It feels transgressive in a way extreme music with Satanic imagery wishes it could. Importantly, JUNON honors her forebearers and, even if the concept of a 20-minute song makes you gag, writes great black metal; gripping, riffy, and distinctly European."
“Black metal as JUNON conceive it does not seek to imitate or revere the second wave, but to artistically further develop it. [...] The Golden Citadel of the Astral Sphere, including its artwork, is among the most interesting things one can currently discover in more avant-garde-oriented metal.”
"A bizarre, disturbing debut that turns black metal into black magic, the music not leaving your cells. JUNON’s approach to this style is deranged, unsettling, and exciting, something that feels conjured from another plane."
"JUNON seizes the second wave riff by its throat and forces it into a golden, roiling, churning, occult, psychedelic machine. The Golden Citadel of the Astral Sphere, the follow up to their much lauded demo, ends up sounding just like its title - some sort of ascending, shining, glorious temple, broiling in occult energies."
“A mystical sacrilege that reveals another hidden wisdom with every listen.”
“Dolorosa closes The Golden Citadel Of The Astral Sphere with 21 gripping minutes that veer between minimalism and maximalism, drone and density, microtonality and metallic shred. JUNON's unnamed, chameleonic vocalist has the charisma to pick up all these disparate threads and weave them into a coherent musical narrative. Dolorosa is unsettling, and it's engineered to be that way.”
"The Golden Citadel of the Astral Sphere is truly eldritch."
"It reaches deep within the psyche to its hidden and forbidden rooms and creates from them a citadel that towers above whatever I experienced prior—the truest cleansing and unabashed freedom found within its confines."
“Intense riffs, mysticism, chaos, and hypnotic dissonance woven into something truly immersive.”
“An occult witch ritual, immersive and confrontational.”
“A disturbing, diabolical work that rewards the listener by driving them into madness.”
"If you've ever dreamed of an Oranssi Pazuzu-Urfaust love child who is also kind of cruel, get it."
“A strong debut that is well worth your time, because you’re not finding anything that sounds like this for a while or even ever.”
“A particularly spellbinding, strange black metal trip that pulls the listener into another dimension.”
“Strange, mystical and deeply uncomfortable in the best possible way.”
“An unsettling atmosphere that feels like a demonic entity extending beyond the musical plane.”
“The album maintains an undeniable tension that is woven into each song, along with a harrowing sense of death that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up while you listen.”
“An exceptionally strong debut from this enigmatic German entity.”
