(written by Islander)
Now almost a quarter-century into their lifespan, the Lithuanian black metal band Luctus are poised to release their fifth album Tamsošviesa (Chiaroscuro) via Inferna Profundus Records. As the band explain, it “marks a new passage in our journey through the ever-shifting borderlands of light and darkness,” representing “both a continuation and a turning point – a chapter where our path through the twilight sharpens into clear focus.”
The album is indeed a changing progression through realms of shadow and brightness, creating excursions within each song that are at times poignant and haunting, and at other times frighteningly diabolical and utterly ferocious. It’s a meticulously crafted work, viscerally powerful and hard-hitting but also frequently mesmerizing as it ranges from major tropes of black metal into sonic territories beyond those traditional boundaries.
We have a lot more to say about the album below, but the main point of this feature is to let you hear all of it for yourselves.
The album opener “Antprasmė” (The Meaning Beyond) provides an electrifying example of how well Luctus play to their strengths, and expand them, on Tamsošviesa. It’s mainly fast and furious, driven hard by a thundering bass and hammering drums. The dual-guitar riffing is equally fleet, frantically rippling in one respect but also mysteriously and exotically flowing in another, and the guitars gleam as they gloriously quiver and ring.
The music’s sweeping effect is both exhilarating and mesmerizing, but the vocals provide a contrast with their savage growls and possessed howls, sometimes doubled for extra-malicious barbarity. Luctus also introduce other contrasts by causing the music to slug, jolt, and throb, and by slowing the hell-for-leather pace to create more sinister sensations. Even at speed, the riffing takes on a more sinister cast, and a fluid guitar solo seems to wail like a mournful ghost.
The dynamism of Luctus‘ music is thus on full display, providing a mix of pulse-pounding energy, evocative melodic refinement, and feral viciousness. The sound production is vital to this mix, yielding vivid clarity in the melodies but without diminishing the music’s heavy punchiness and harrowing vocal hostility.
The following songs reinforce these strengths. If anything, “Gydančios žaizdos” (Wounds That Heal) is even more elaborate, even more given to sudden tempo changes and shifts in sound and mood. It sounds like warfare, and it sounds like sorcery. It’s diabolical, frightening, and even surreal. Shimmering synths and shivering guitars make it sound unearthly; sudden stops and starts and the fast-changing drum-work will keep listeners on their toes; and the vocals are as wild as raging beats and as ugly as original sin.
The other songs also continue advancing dramatic contrasts, among them the divide between the guttural growls, inflamed screams, and possessed chants, on the one hand, and the elegantly glittering guitar tones and synth-driven panoramas on the other, with “Mirusiųjų pasaulio ilgesys” (Yearning for the World of the Dead) being an eye-popping example of that.
The music is also often haunting, in ways that are often chilling; the relatively brief title song “Tamsošviesa” is one such example. Largely instrumental, it functions as an interlude, but it also introduces the eerily gloomy melody that becomes the centerpiece of the following song “Chiaroscuro” — which also turns out to be a head-rattling, gut-punching hard-hitter (and it cuts like a circle saw too).
Wailing, doleful guitar melodies and elegantly ringing notes are also key components of the mainly mid-paced “Tebūnie naktis” (Let There Be Night), as are scalding screams, crazed yells, near-sung massed voices, growling bass-throbs, and episodes of cinematic expansiveness.
All seven songs on the album, including the blazing and mournfully beautiful closer “Ugnies ir vandens šventykla” (Temple of Fire and Water), are well-plotted and expertly executed as they walk changing lines between shadow and light. To use the old cliche, it’s all killer, no filler — as you’ll now discover for yourselves:
Inferna Profundus will release Tamsošviesa on October 13th, on CD and digital formats, and on November 9th in vinyl LP editions. Cassette tapes and shirts are also available for pre-order.
PRE-ORDER:
https://www.ipr666shop.com/
https://infernaprofundusrecords.bandcamp.com/album/tamso-viesa
LUCTUS:
https://www.instagram.com/luctus_official/
https://www.facebook.com/Luctuslt
https://luctus.bandcamp.com/
INFERNA PROFUNDUS:
https://www.instagram.com/inferna_profundus_records/
https://www.facebook.com/ipr666