(written by Islander)
On the basis of their debut EP and two following albums, we’ve come to expect great things from the Galician band Lóstregos, but I’ve still been left stunned by their new album Nai, and especially by the song from that album which we’re premiering today. The band’s name is the Galician word for lightning, and they’ve really earned it.
“Melodic Black Metal” and “Pagan Black Metal” are the genre labels most commonly affixed to the band’s music, with the “Pagan” label a recognition of their inspirations in Galician folklore. The Dusktone label, which will release the new album on October 25th, has provided this description for the new album:
“Nai is defined by the band as a singular point of balance between light and darkness. It’s an introspective and conceptual journey across the primordial elements led by the endless coil, without forgetting about the main focus of the band on Galician Folklore.”
And yet those genre labels, while valid as far as they go, just scrape the surface of what’s revealed by Nai, as you’re bout to find out for yourselves through today’s song premiere.
“AUGA – Ondas Serpeantes” is a rare combination of care, calculation, and exuberant adventurousness. It unfolds like an elaborate musical tapestry rolling past our vision, intricately woven with colors both brilliant and dark.
Or you might also think of it as a ravishing piece of musical theater, ornately costumed and rapidly moving from scene to scene, with each performer assuming different guises and roles, providing a thrilling escape from daily life, which seems poor and drab by comparison.
There’s so much to take in over over these nearly 11 minutes, none of it ordinary, that listening more than once, even as long as it is, proves irresistible. It’s one of those songs that really does reveal something new with each new encounter, though even on a first listen you can detect the emergence of new patterns (or characters) and their reappearance in a later swath or scene.
Lóstregos makes the first pattern with grim, abrasive, clanging tones and ringing notes that seem to exotically beckon us forward. The combination is menacing but enticing, and that ringing melodic pattern persists. But after a startling howl, the weapon-like firing of the drums, and the gigantic thrust of the bass, the melody becomes more frantic.
The music begins to spin like a tornado of fire, whipping faster and faster, with the flames of the guitars writhing and spiraling up, like freed souls, and the rhythm section engaged in a furious battery. The vocals are also furious, an eye-popping combination of monstrous growls and completely unhinged screams.
The music creates delirium and glory, whirling toward a heart-bursting crescendo, but as the drums start cracking and clashing and the bass heavily rumbles, the whir of the lead guitar begins sounding sinister, and fiends emerge in the riffing. While the bass luxuriantly murmurs and acoustic notes emerge, the music transforms into a mysterious and ethereal borealis in the upper reaches, a manifestation of wonder, amplified by choral voices and infiltrated again by a familiar guitar-refrain.
And all this happens in just the song’s first half. Rather than try to map everything that follows, we’ll just say that the intensity of the music continues to ebb and flow as the band change tempos and moods but continue creating intriguing and wondrous musical and rhythmic filigrees, repeating some of the patterns and revealing new ones, maintaining the thrill of what has already been an edge-of-your-seat experience.
At the end, we get a new voice, a new character, a solemn baritone scarily intoning words, accompanied by shimmering synths and an elegantly beautiful piano melody.
Dusktone will release Nai on LP vinyl, jewelcase CD, and limited tape formats, as well as digitally. For more info, check out the locations linked below.
Dusktone recommends the album for fans of Wolves in the Throne Room, Primordial, Moonsorrow, and Windir.
DUSKTONE:
https://www.dusktone.it
https://www.dusktone.org
https://dusktone.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/dusktone
https://www.instagram.com/dusktone
LÓSTREGOS:
https://www.facebook.com/lostregos
https://www.instagram.com/lostregosofficial
https://lostregos.bandcamp.com/