Lunatic Gods "Mythus" CD
[Hrom]
I don't really remember much about this Slovakian band's last record, but I do specifically remember that I hated it, so even though I'm not totally into this one I am glad that they've made some very obvious advancements. Their style is atmospheric blackened death metal with lots of speedy riffing accented by keyboards and a blend of snarling/growling vocals with some singing/spoken passages at times. There's a lot going on, though. The writing shifts quite often with some killer dissonant chords or the occasional thrashy midpaced break, clean and acoustic atmospheric passages, and at times some of the experimentation starts to lean towards an avant-garde sort of sound that could be rather promising. In fact, some of the more creative chord phrasings and such are really cool, so it's the typical tremolo picking riffs and blasting drums that are the blander elements here. The vocals aren't really working for me either, though. The growls feel forced and exaggerated, the singing comes off as a less effectively monotone My Dying Bride style, and the higher screaming just doesn't fit the music all that well. There are some promising songs regardless, however. "Under the Veil of the Night" uses some gorgeous acoustic guitars and distant singing with piano alongside throughout, maintaining a slower tempo and an overall more consistent and powerful framework (granted the vocal performance can be a mild hindrance to the music); "Evil Breeds More Evil Still" has a few nice lead breaks and some of the most prominent thrash-based influence to the guitar riffs (this more focused approach is pretty damn effective overall); and "Falling Into Darkness" mixes up the tempos and dynamics a lot, at times drawing influence from Emperor and the like, somehow coming across as more memorable and powerful than the other songs. "The History Turns" also has some nice technical riffing layering acoustic and electric guitars, as well as cool solos, but despite its strengths the composition as a whole doesn't strike me. As is often the case I see no real reason for keyboards to be employed on this record, as they clutter the mix and more often than not simply don't sound that good, especially during the couple of brief instrumental tracks that appear - and for example during the acoustic intro to "Visions Collide", which would have been far superior had more harmony guitars been used instead. I don't mind the recording. It's not terribly clear, but you can get an idea of all the layering that's going on. The drums are on the rigid and machinated side and the bass can get lost during the heavier guitar parts, but it sounds competent and gets them by. I'd suggest giving the drums more of a natural presence and trying to let the guitars get brighter so that the bass can handle the low-end. The layout's 50/50. The illustrations are awful and cheesy, but the lettering is nice and clean, everything is printed on matte paper, and surprisingly the band logo is actually embossed on the front cover. The lyrics are somewhat lengthy and carry a concept (explained across two pages at the start of the booklet) that seems to be about a race of worms that wants to destroy humanity or something, but even though it's not written badly that kind of fantasy crap bores me to tears and I have no interest in it. A couple of videos are included as well, one using live footage and one using footage of the band in the woods behind a fire (both with studio audio), but these are nothing exceptional. I'm giving this one the benefit of the doubt though, because even though there are significant flaws and it's a bit underdeveloped, it's an ambitious effort that points to a brighter and more progressive future for the band. If they can nail down a focus on the technical and atypical guitar work through a clearer recording and get the vocals better situated they could really turn some heads. This is a surprising improvement over their last effort, for sure. (6/10)
Running time - 49:23, Tracks: 11
[Notable tracks: Under the Veil of the Night, Evil Breeds More Evil Still, Falling Into Darkness]
Lunatic Gods - http://www.lunaticgods.sk

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