Lustre is the project of Swedish musician Henrik Sunding. Sunding, who was a member of the band The Burning and has also played drums for Hypothermia has been making music as Lustre since 2008. The Ashes Of Light is Lustre’s 8th album, the last being 2017’s Still Innocent. Lustre play a very mellow version of black metal referred to Ambient Black Metal, and also has many elements that I would think of as Post Black Metal. The main sound on this album uses a base of guitar, bass and drums, with keyboards using sounds that are a little similar to flutes or bells over the top of the Guitar/Bass/Drum base, which provide most of the melody. The music mainly feels melancholic, a feeling that is emphasised by the vocal performance which is harsh, anguished screams. The tempo is mainly fairly slow, with an ethereal drifting quality that is almost dreamlike.
There are times where the music feels more purposeful and driving; Part 3 (Like Music In The Night) has a second half that feels more resolved than the first half. Part 5 (The Ashes Of Light) is very soft, slow and pensive first half, but has a much more rhythmic second half, with some very military sounding snare fills that really help the track to drive to an end. The keyboard melodies which are the most obvious melodic device in this album. Initially they come across as very simple, however with a few repeated listens the complexity of this album becomes more apparent. There are many layers of keyboard riffs. There is usually a main riff that will be the loudest thing in the mix, but underneath that main riff are several other keyboard riffs that all link up to back up that main riff, so this is an album that seems fairly simple, but with repeated listens the tracks open up and reveal this complexity.
Probably the best place to see this is the song Part 4 (The Empty Black), which has a melancholic main riff, but also has some more positive and uplifting riffs, lower down in the mix, giving the track a cathartic mix of negative and positive. The Ashes Of Light is a great piece of Ambient/Post Black Metal. It reminds me a little of the band Sadness in style, and in my opinion that is huge compliment. It’s drifting melancholia, with the occasional uplifting element to sooth the soul. After a few listens this album really gets into your head, I found the big keyboard riffs eminently hummable, this is one of those albums that gets better the more you know it, and the melodies become part of your psyche. It’s an album that rewards a little effort on the part of the listener, but that effort will be rewarded. 8/10
Witchskull: A Driftwood Cross (Rise Above Records) [Matt Bladen]
With the disappointment of Witchcraft ringing in my ears, I approached the similarly named Witchskull with a little bit of trepidation but happily as I pressed play the fuzz metal riffs of Black Cathedrals wailed out of my speakers the smile in my face grew bigger and bigger. Unfortunately this meant bu the chugging Baphomet's Child my jaw aches but that's what great organic, blues laced, heavy doom rock does to me I'm afraid. Witchskull are riff worshippers from Canberra, Australia and this third album is a big ol' slab of juicy Iommi-like riffs, rumbling NWOBHM bass and drumming that pounds like a hammer on an anvil.
You can just smell the leather coming off bass led smokers like the incredibly doomy This Silent Place. If I were to make a comparison, perhaps lazily then I'd say on songs such as Baphomet's Child invoke Grand Magus but there are a myriad of sounds here from the hypnotic, bass led doom of the repeating Red Altar through the galloping Dresden and into the heavy riffing of March Of Winter, A Driftwood Cross has some serious heavy metal chops to it, making it an ideal listen for those that like their metal heavy and full of chest beating bravado. It's chock full of big riffs, bigger than a lot of trio's can provide, while the album ends with the epic title track, the whole thing doesn't change the metal world but it's a big bouncy slice of fist pumping for a dreary day. 7/10
Xpus: In Umbre Mortis Sedent (Transcending Obscurity Records) [Paul Scoble]
Xpus are a 3 piece based in Lombardy, Italy. The band have been making nasty music together since 2015. In Umbre Mortis Sedent is the band's second album, coming 5 years after their debut; Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth. Xpus’s style is very Old School, both in a Death Metal and Black metal way. After all in the late eighties and early nineties Death Metal and Black Metal were very similar genre’s, the fact that early Morbid Angel has been just as much an influence on Black Metal as it has been for Death Metal proves this. And there is a definite first two Morbid Angel albums feel about a lot of the material. There are also influences from Deicide, Incantation, and in some of the slower parts this is reminiscent of the sickening putrid evil that is Autopsy. The main style on offer here is blasting fast old School Death Metal, mainly tremolo picked riffs, blasting fast drums and thundering bass, with nasty, harsh vocals over the top.
Most of the tracks are fairly short and simple, it reminds me of the early days of Death Metal, which was a really exciting time, when it felt like each new album was pushing the genre further. As I mentioned earlier the main influence on here is Morbid Angel, but there are lots of other bits and pieces that show a broader range of inspiration. Some of the riffs are a little ‘Swedish’ in feel, similar to early Entombed or Dismember. There is a certain similarity in some of the riffs, there are occasions where the album feels a little samey. On some of the tracks later in the track listing is does feel like you’ve heard it before. However this is helped by some of the slower parts, which are reminiscent of Autopsy. Whenever the songs feature these slow sections it makes the sameness of some of the riffs not as important and adds massive amounts of depth to the tracks. If there had been more slow, heavy and incredibly nasty parts on this album it would probably have worked better.
Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t a massive problem, and the slower elements help it hugely, but a bit of variety in fast riffs would have improved the album. In Umbre Mortis Sedent is a very good Old School Death Metal / Black Metal album. It harks back to a time when Death metal was simpler and more direct. A little more variety would have helped, but it is still a very effective piece of brutality, and the slow riffs are fantastic! 7/10
Abrams: Modern Ways (Sailor Records) [Matt Bladen]
I've never been to Denver, Colorado, I can't imagine how the mountains of the Colorado would make you angry but it seems to have instilled rage in four piece Abrams, however it's a rage distilled with an modern sheen that shines through on the euphoric Joshua Tree which bares a passing resemblance to the U2 (funny that). Modern Ways is their third album and it's rammed with hooks making for an album that yes does have an aggression to it moving into the trappings of sludge but also some more melodic lines from the post-metal sound. In the gumf supporting this states influences from Baroness and Torche and you can hear that on ragers like Silence and My War but also there are more reflective moments such as Pale Moonlight. Unfortunately Modern Ways had me losing interest after a few listens but when it does hit it hits hard, shame it doesn't do it more often. 6/10
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