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On disc: Lustre



A Glimpse Of Glory - Mike Thompson - 8 stars
Wonder - Lars Bjørn - 8 stars


www.myspace.com/lustresweden







Wonder

Wonder
(Nordvis Records - 2013)


The one-man band Lustre is the baby of artist Nachtzeit who presents a new album of very special music, a record called Wonder. I have to say it right away, what Nachtzeit is doing can only be described as fantastic, his sense of deep mysterious metal comes from the roots of folk metal, and a more elegant way of making metal music will probably be hard to find. There are four long songs on this album, starting with Moonlight Meadow, a slow melancholic folk metal hymn with alien monster kind of elements about it. On the next one, Green Worlds, we get a massive elegant dose of nature power metal with an atmosphere a little difficult to describe, that must be experienced. A Summer Night also consists of mysterious alien monster atmosphere that still stay close to power metal as the main inspiration in the songwriting. Petrichor ends the album in style with slow elegant orchestra heavy metal and binds the whole album together in full harmony and finesse. Black metal combined with folk metal is what gives this album a genius class, one odd record that will not be put in the wastebasket, that's for sure.


8 stars

Lars Bjørn
 

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A Glimpse Of Glory

A Glimpse Of Glory
(De Tenebrarum Principio - 2010)


Before I write the review for the new Lustre album let me tell you that this form of music is not one which I enjoy listening to and would rarely if ever play through choice.

Atmospheric, synth driven black metal tends to be something I'd think of as 'waiting room music' for extreme people. It isn't usually a bad listen, in fact there's nothing really derogatory you can say about it. Unfortunately it just doesn't usually go anywhere. Its all very nice, generally quite relaxing sounds that barely fit the metal tag, let alone the extreme metal tag associated with black metal. I think that's the main problem I have with this sub-genre as a whole. With the odd exception of a few distorted guitars or average black metal shrieks there's really nothing black metal about it. Its just ambient music.

The first song on new Lustre album, This Mighty Sight, is a prime example of this. The song is all nice to listen to and if you ever wanted to lull yourself to sleep this would be the perfect music to do that (and I mean that as a compliment). There is a small section with black metal style vocals which stand out for a few seconds but overall the song is carried forward by the uplifting keyboards.

A perfect example of a band that does this style of music correctly is Austrian Tolkien enthusiasts Summoning who write excellent songs combining beautiful synth melodies with some good black metal. Black Jade is another example. A Glimpse of Glory's second track, Lunar Light, takes the lead from these atmospheric black metal luminaries. There are no vocals throughout this song but the synths and guitars are enough to keep you interested.

The third track is entitled Amongst The Trees and the track is pervaded throughout with the sound of birds chirruping. I actually found this quite annoying but then that just might be because I'm sick to death of being woken up by the little feathered fuckers in the morning! Again, the keyboards are the main element of the music, crafting a beautifully relaxing melody that would be a suitable accompaniment to an early morning woodland walk.

Ok, so despite my misgivings about the genre even I have to admit that the music contained in the three tracks on this album are extremely good examples of atmospheric black metal with beautiful synth work and nice arrangements that do draw you in more than most albums in this genre. If you're into this style of music I think you will love this album. I enjoyed it to a point but admittedly I like my black metal fast and raw!


8 stars

Mike Thompson
 

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